Review: Exterminator: Thoroughbred Legends

Exterminator: Thoroughbred Legends by Eva Jolene Boyd
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I believe Exterminator was the earliest subject of a book in the Thoroughbred Legends series. Because of that, this book is quite different than the others. The times were different, and horse racing was a different kind of game than it became a few years later. In addition, as a gelding, there wasn’t the progeny to write about, which tends to consume a large portion of most of these books. This book makes up for that lack in spades, though, as the horse had (was it) 10 trainers, and raced in 100 (or 99) races. The horse also had an interesting owner who made his money on Swamp Root patent medicine, and who had some interesting practices. His constant fighting with Exterminator’s trainers reminded me of George Steinbrenner. I was surprised after completing the book and reviewing the horse’s record that he had as many wins as he had. These books focus on wins generally, but in this one, the non-wins seemed more plentiful and well written. I guess when you win 50 races it gets to be kind of common. This book really had an interesting lead character with the owner, and I found it entertaining. I liked the author’s book on Native Dancer in the Thoroughbred Legends series, and I look forward to reading author Boyd’s other book in the series about Assault.

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