EQUINE LIBRARY -- BOOKS Main Page   |   Books   |   Videos   |   Favorite Flicks By Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Carl A. Nafzger. Nafzger takes the reader through the steps involved in owning and racing thoroughbreds.  He offers excellent insight into making a wise purchase and the steps between buying a thoroughbred and getting to the racetrack. He also provides a look at the backside of the racetrack and all that’s involved in entering a race. An excellent resource for new and prospective owners.   Author John McEvoy examines several “unsolved mysteries” of the racing world, from high profile cases like the kidnapping of famed Irish superhorse Shergar and the shooting of William Woodward, Jr. to lesser known but equally intriguing cases such as the disappearance and death of Northern California jockey Ron Hansen.  Definitely some racing’s strangest and most fascinating tales.   Whether you’re revisiting an old favorite, learning about a horse from yesteryear, or discovering something new about a modern-day champion, Thoroughbred Champions pays homage to the grand heritage of the Thoroughbred racehorse and the sport of racing. Don’t miss the stories of these great four-legged athletes as told by the Turf writers and correspondents of the Blood-Horse.   The ins and outs of owning a Thoroughbred racehorse can be daunting to the newcomer.  How ad where to start, who to turn to for advice, and how much it costs are questions without easy answers. In Lighting in a Jar, author W. Cothran Campbell demystifies the ownership process through a unique combination of how-to guide and autobiography. Campbell covers the various ownership options, the need for a business plan and good advice, risks and rewards, and the language of racing.  It’s an entertaining and indispensable book for newcomers and not to be missed by seasoned professionals.   In Pursuit of the Big Horse is not just a story about horse racing. It is the real life story of a modern day “Walter Mitty”.  It is the true tale of one man’s dream to succeed in an industry dominated by wealth and power. It’s a book for anyone who dreams about success and has an interest in how one goes about achieving it. Author Lee Forman will make you laugh and cry as he guides you through the exciting and unknown, attempting to pursue The Big Horse.   In The Man Who Listens to Horses, Monty Roberts revealed the depth of communication possible between human and horse.  That book spent more than a year on the New York Times bestseller list, it described the discovery of the “language” of horses and the dramatic effectiveness of removing violence from their training. In this sequel Roberts demonstrates how with people, as with horses, the gentle way is the better way. Using the technique of “Join-Up” as the model for how best to strengthen human relationships, Roberts shows how the lessons learned from thousands of horses can provide effective, thought provoking guidelines for improving the quality of our communication with one another.   Joseph A. Estes set out to find a better way of breeding racehorses. He devised a system that used the science of genetics and objective criteria in the selection of breeding stock... a measure that he felt could predict with some accuracy the racing capacity of a racehorse.  That system, the Average-Earnings Index is a key tool used by some to breed better horses.  In “The Estes formula for Breeding Sates Winners” Estes explains: How to increase he odds of producing a stakes winner, What is the Average Earning Index, How to use the AEI in bloodstock selection, and the theories and myths of racehorse breeding.   Four Seasons Of Racing celebrates the Thoroughbred year, from birth to retirement and all the milestones in between.  Eclipse Award-winning photographer Barbara D. Livingston provides a deeply personal view of racing and breeding in a style that has made her an artist among her peers. Color, mood, and theme work together in unique ways in each of her photographs. Livingston captures the special qualities of every horse.  Racetracks and farms also benefit from Livingston ’s sensitive approach. This is a compelling photo journal of the spirit and passion of Thoroughbred Racing meant to be savored slowly like a fine wine.   Vincent Reo’s Workouts and Maidens provides interesting insight into how to interpret workouts from a variety of perspectives and how to compare workouts.  Also provides insight into comments in the past performances racing lines.  Keys to handicapping maiden races are also offered.   A practical book that provides examples of how to put into practice modern theories of handicapping.  Using examples of actual races, author William L. Quirin, Ph.D. shows hot analyze forty-one different situations that may arise due to the race conditions, the track surface, or the horse itself.  Included is information on races with first-time starters, maiden races, two-year-olds, state-bred races, starter handicaps, races on soft grass, races taken off the grass, European form and many other topics.   The third edition of a racing classic, author Tom Ainslie’s book provides everything the fan needs to know about picking winners, including; computer handicapping, how to profit from trackside video, the truth about equine medication, key breeding lines, what to watch before the race, promising jockeys, consistent trainers, and 60 ways to build your own system. This is a well-written book that will help you get maximum enjoyment from your racing experience.   By Tom Ainslie and Bonnie Ledbetter this excellent work helps you to understand how horses communicate in a language of posture, gesture and sound. How they express their needs, wishes and emotions to each other and to people who understand them. After reading this uplifting book you’ll have a better understanding of how to recognize a happy horse, a frightened horse, an angry horse, a horse in pain, an eagerly competitive horse and many more horses.  You will know how to educate a foal or rehabilitate a rogue. You will know how to look at racehorses on their way to the starting gate and how to differentiate the likely winners from the losers.   Lady Luck has nothing to do with this book. Nor does gambling.  Investing at the Racetrack features a system for investing your money at the track with bets based on statistical probability—an analysis of numbers of happenings occurring over and over again with consistency. It will take some smarts to learn author William Scott’s system, and some hard work; but stick with the details, apply them at the track, and you can expect the kind of heavy profits recorded inside this book—40 percent when betting to win and 20 percent when betting to place and show.   Dominating victories, great duels, and astounding rallies make up some of horse racing’s greatest moments.  Award-winning writer Edward L. Bowen captures these in At The Wire, a compilation of twenty-seven races plus Breeders’ Cup highlights that have earned a solid place in America ’s Turf history. Bowen write of outstanding horses at their best in fierce competition and of their time and place in American racing.  This is an excellent work that will be enjoyed by any turf fan.   Nobody knows the ins and outs of the racetrack like Bill Shoemaker, and in fire Horse he conjures up this world in all its glory and greed—the sleek clubs of Los Angeles , the lush stud farms of the rich, and the underworld punks who want to get their hands on the big money. As Fire Horse pounds to its shocker of a finish, Bill Shoemaker proves once again that he writes as thrillingly as he rode.   Author Mark Cramer has researched horse behavior cycles and learned to statistically and observationally document their vagaries.  Thoroughbred Cycles is the result of his research.  In this book he examines the patterns of ups and downs that can affect a horse’s career and explains the whys behind these patterns.  He describes the differences between internal (biological) and external (trainer-induced) cycles, identifies the types of career cycles that thoroughbred racers go through, and discusses the applications of cycle handicapping.  Cramer has studied the various reasons for performance fluctuations and shows horseplayers how they can project change from a horse’s past performances.   In Modern Pace Handicapping, author Tom Brohamer illustrates that fractional times, running styles, turn-times, track variants, and final times are all interrelated, and not independent factors when it comes to pace handicapping.  Brohamer can show you how a dead loser at Belmont may be a runaway winner at Adueduct, and how a winner at Keeneland may have zero probability of winning at Churchill Downs.  The material in this book is not easy.  But it works.  Handicappers willing to persevere will find it well worthwhile   The Complete Idiot’s Guide To Betting on Horses helps you build the skills you need to understand horse racing.  If offers solid information about what makes a good racehorse, from appearance to behavior to performance.  An excellent new comers reference.   Modern handicappers who rely on traditional standards of class appraisal are beset by radically changing conditions of play, including purse inflation, year-round calendars, emphasis on younger horses, and a proliferation of stakes races.  In this revised and updated version of his handicapping classic, James Quinn shows how to relate past performances to the class demands of eligibility conditions that are standard fare in major racing and provides selection and elimination guidelines that handicapper can use to isolate horses well suited to particular races.   A no-nonsense book with lots of valuable handicapping information and statistics on grass racing.  Author Bill Heller helps you to handicap grass winners that you may be missing. Included in the book are statistics on what are the actual winning percentages of top sires when their offspring hit the turf for the first time, and what trainers and jockeys do better on grass than dirt.