Review: Classic Lives: The Education of a Racehorse

Classic Lives: The Education of a Racehorse by Caroline Silver
My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I’ve read quite a few thoroughbred horse “biographies” over the years, telling the story of a great racehorse, including stories about their ancestry, their breeding and birth, their training and racing and post-racing career. The stories almost all give major coverage to the people involved in the horses life, the breeder, trainer, jockey, groom, and owner. I was expecting the same here, but this was quite different. Instead of focusing on a single horse, author Silver focused on one racing stable and a crop of horses, of similar ages. And unlike those other books, some of these horses are poor at racing. That’s one of the highlights of the book, seeing through the eyes of an owner of a large string of horses and the long odds of having a big winner. You see the business side, but also the tradition. Another interesting aspect is that horse transport is a key element in this story, as one horse is injured In a transportation accident and others have issues caused by travel. I hadn’t read about that aspect before, outside of Dick Francis books. American readers will also note that this is about a British stable in the 1970s, so some things are done differently than in the US, and steeplechasing is an alternative to oval flats racing for some covered here. Well written and fresh despite being written more than 50 years ago.


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