Overview
"Followers of the Sport of Kings will find the book irresistible."-Publishers Weekly
Jim Bolus's Kentucky Derby Stories was called "a Derby delight," "entertaining," and "a winner" by publications like Daily Racing Form, Lexington Herald-Leader, and the Detroit News. Now, Bolus, sportswriter and Derby historian, is back with another field of stories from the most-esteemed horse race in North America-Remembering the Derby.
Included in this volume of his Derby moments are stories of trainers, runners, writers, winners, and losers. Bolus features chapters on his favorite race writers, Mike Barry and Joe Hirsch, who influenced his own craft and his love of the sport; and Bolus spends a few pages noting some of the best writers whose handicapping has paid off for many of their readers. This volume's cast of horses includes unforgettable legends like Northern Dancer and some less-memorable runners like Silky Sullivan, who deserves a second bow.
Relying on his reportorial background, Bolus investigates the Derby with some enlightening offerings from the past. From the 1924 Derby, he recalls a controversial four-horse finish and how the true second-place finisher will never be known. Also in the list of stories is a compilation of tales from the saddle in which jockeys misgauged the distance to the finish-decisions that cost some the race and handed victory over to others.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR The late Jim Bolus, who attended his thirty-seventh Kentucky Derby in 1996, hadn't missed the race in more than twenty years. Dubbed a Doctor of Derbyology by one newspaper reporter, Bolus also wrote Derby Dreams, Derby Fever, Kentucky Derby Stories, and Derby Magic, all published by Pelican.