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Title: The Perfect Ride by Gary Stevens, Bill Shoemaker, Mervyn Kaufman ISBN: 0-8065-2450-2 Publisher: Citadel Trade Pub. Date: May, 2003 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.25 (12 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: The Perfect Ride: a perfect read for racing fans!
Comment: I have long held a great measure of respect for Gary Stevens as a professional racehorse jockey. I've watched him ride some great races on television (having grown up in an area with almost no horse industry at all, I have not had the fortune to see one of his races live). My respect for the man only grew when I saw the movie Seabiscuit (where he plays jockey George Woolf, who rode Seabiscuit in his famous match race with rival War Admiral) and realized he had a bit of acting talent as well. So when I saw his autobiography in the store, I snatched it up right away and am certainly glad I did. Reading it, my estimation of this great athlete went even higher.
Stevens begins with his early childhood, living in Idaho. His father worked with Appaloosas, then moved on to Quarter Horse racing, and later to Thoroughbreds. Gary's older brother Scott began a career as a jockey, and Gary soon followed in his footsteps. He was riding Quarter Horses in races (under Scott's name) before he was legally old enough to obtain a jockey's license. The boy fell in love with the sport, and soon made the switch to riding Thoroughbreds. At seventeen, he left home for California, rode a dismal season, and returned to Idaho. There he got married, and over the next few years his career began to take flight and the book describes all his significant wins, losses, and other experiences.
Though his career soared over the years, Stevens talks of his constant battle with pain. A series of riding accidents over the years left him with terrible knees, requiring frequent surgery. He endured many breaks from riding in order to undergo rehabilitation, and often returned to the track prematurely, riding despite the pain. He even retired for a short time and tried his hand at training, but found he just couldn't stay away from riding. Stevens' frank discussion of his pain is one of the most inspiring things I've ever read. No matter how much he was hurting, he kept pushing forward, and made more than one amazing comeback in the sport.
In addition to race riding, Stevens discusses other major events that helped shape his life - his children, his divorce, his remarriage, and the death of a fellow jockey and close friend, Chris Antley. He also talks of his relationships with various trainers and jockeys; how he makes decisions on which mounts to accept, how to ride his races, and what directions to take with his career; and he evaluates some of the great horses he has ridden, including Thunder Gulch, Point Given, Winning Colors, Serena's Song, Silver Charm, and others. He talks about his struggle with weight, and how he has managed to stay in shape for riding. Stevens has ridden in the United States, Hong Kong, and Great Britain, and he compares the atmosphere and racing procedure in these very different places. All in all, this book is an excellent inside look at the life of a top racehorse jockey.
The epilogue touches briefly on Stevens' acceptance of a role in Seabiscuit, the new movie based on author Laura Hillenbrand's best-stelling book. He mentions a few things about the early stages of filming - what it was like to act for the first time, to work with co-star Tobey Maguire, to see an inspiring true horse story come to life on film, etc. My one criticism here is that he does not tell us enough. I really wish he had delayed the publication of this book another year so that he would have been able to include more about his work on the movie.
A few reviewers here have commented on a lack of accuracy in the book. Stevens himself tells us early in the book that his accounts are based largely on his own memories, which are fallible. He acknowledges the fact that he may have made some mistakes in his recollections. I don't really hold this against him. I suspect that any autobiography will contain some inaccuracies. The author is relying largely on personal memory, spanning a very large period of time. Stevens' goal here wasn't to provide us with a data sheet on the races he's ridden; he wanted to share the experiences of his life - to show us what's brought him to where he is today. And I think he's done an excellent job at just that. Having a date off by one year here, or not being entirely clear on the legalities surrounding building rights on a certain racetrack there don't detract from the messages the book has to offer. I would highly recommend this book to any horse racing enthusiast.
Rating: 4
Summary: An Inside Look At Horse Racing
Comment: If you love thoroughbred horse racing and are hungry for an inside look this book is for you. Gary Stevens discusses the great horses he has ridden and the great trainers he has worked for. At the same time he is still a working jockey and I believe he went to great lengths to not offend anyone. It is a shame because you can't help but believe that Gary has a strong opinion on just about everything in his industry. He avoids saying much about his fellow jockeys except for kind words regarding Bill Shoemaker and Pat Day. And Chris Antley is discussed in detail.
Rating: 2
Summary: Perfect ride not perfect read
Comment: I admire Gary Stevens as a world class jocky, but world class writer he is not. At times he comes across as quite cocky, maybe he has reason to be proud of his success but he sounds conceited more then proud. Often he writes as though he knows more about the horses he rides then the trainers or owners, that he is a better judge of their capabilities then either of the others, and he has been proven wrong on that score. He also seems to be trying to give us a smattering of his philosophy on success and I think he fails. What has worked for him, a God given ability to ride horses well and an incredible tolerance for pain can not be applied to the rest of us. I have to say, I hope Stevens does not follow this book up with any others. He is a much better jocky then writer.
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Title: Ride of Their Lives: The Triumphs and Turmoil of Today's Top Jockeys by Lenny Shulman, Tom Hammond ISBN: 1581500750 Publisher: Eclipse Press Pub. Date: May, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: My Racing Heart: The Passionate World of Thoroughbreds and the Track by Nan Mooney ISBN: 0060198532 Publisher: HarperCollins Pub. Date: 16 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: Stud : Adventures in Breeding by Kevin Conley ISBN: 1582343322 Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Pub. Date: 02 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Old Friends: Visits With My Favorite Thoroughbreds by Barbara D. Livingston ISBN: 1581500831 Publisher: Eclipse Press Pub. Date: September, 2002 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Secretariat: The Making of a Champion by William Nack ISBN: 0306811332 Publisher: DaCapo Press Pub. Date: 02 April, 2002 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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