front cover of 1968
1968
A Pivotal Moment in American Sports
James C. Nicholson
University of Tennessee Press, 2019
 Amid anti-Vietnam war protests, political assassinations, and urban unrest, the United States had descended into an era of domestic turmoil by the summer of 1968. Americans were split along nearly every imaginable line, and discord penetrated all facets of American culture. As James Nicholson proves in this thought-provoking volume, the sports arena was no exception.
            Opening with Vince Lombardi’s last win as coach of the Packers in Super Bowl II and closing with Jo Namath’s Super Bowl III guarantee, 1968 charts a course through the turbulent waters of American sports over a single improbable year. Nicholson chronicles and scrutinizes a number of events that reflected-and fed-the acrimony of that year: the Masters golf tournament, in which enforcement of an arcane rule cost a foreign player a chance at victory; the disqualification of the Kentucky Derby winner for doping; Muhammed Ali’s appeal of a criminal conviction for draft evasion; an unorthodox rendition of the national anthem at the World Series that nearly overshadowed the game it preceded; and a silent gesture of protest at the Mexico City Olympics that shocked the nation and world.
            While 1968 was not the first year that sports converged with social and political strife in America, echoes of the past in today’s culture wars bring a heightened relevance to the events of a half century ago. In reading Nicholson’s work, scholars and sports fans alike will receive an instructive glimpse into the nature of persistent division in the United States as it reflected in our national pastimes.
 
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Insider's Guide to Horseracing
T. A. Landers
Westholme Publishing, 2005

Learn What the Experts Know About the “Sport of Kings”

With its fast pace, beautiful animals, high stakes, and colorful pageantry, horseracing easily captures the attention of even first-time viewers. While recognizing horseracing as a fascinating sport, most fans know little about this billion-dollar business. Every racehorse and jockey goes through years of training, horses have natural cycles of conditioning, and each track offers its own challenges. Understanding what goes on behind the scenes will make every race more enjoyable profitable for those who wager.

Insider’s Guide to Horseracing is a quick and informative tour of the sport from the moment a foal is tapped for training and the kinds of equipment a horse wears to how wagering works and the different types of races. Written by an experienced horse industry professional and fully illustrated, this guide explains what to look for, understanding what you see, making sense of racing columns, and ways to make a trip to the track more memorable, such as visiting the saddling paddock. Here a reader will not find complex or magic formulas for picking winners or dry statistics; instead the Insider’s Guide to Horseracing gives readers exact information from an expert that will add to the excitement of racing and will allow readers to make better informed decisions all.

“An excellent book.”—Horse-Races.net

“Landers drew upon his longtime experience in various phases of the horse industry to produce this fan-oriented book, which he says is intended to ‘educate people on the workings of a racetrack and what goes on behind the scenes.’ It was inspired by the many questions he has been asked over the years.”—N.Y. Thoroughbred Horseman’s Association Newsletter

Contents:
1. A brief history of the sport
2. What to look for in a horse
3. How to read track conditions
4. Understanding distance
5. Types of wagering, races, and handicapping
6. The jockey and trainer
7. Ownership
8. Information on major races and racetracks in North America

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Isaac Murphy
I Dedicate This Ride
Frank X Walker
Ohio University Press, 2010
The captivating story of a record-setting nineteenth-century black jockey told in poetry. In this creative foray into persona poems, Walker immerses himself in the life of African American jockey Isaac Burns Murphy (1861–1896). The son of a slave, Murphy’s legendary career riveted the attention of the nation and established him as one of the greatest jockeys of all time. Walker’s poetry breathes life into the voices of Murphy and his family, the neglected history of African Americans in thoroughbred racing, and racial tensions in the post-Civil War South. Published in 2010 by Old Cove Press
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Juneteenth Rodeo
Photos and essay by Sarah Bird; Afterword by Demetrius Pearson
University of Texas Press, 2024

Timeless photos offer a rare portrait of the jubilant, vibrant, vital, nearly hidden, and now all-but-vanished world of small-town Black rodeos.

Long before Americans began to officially commemorate Juneteenth, in the heat of East Texas, saddles were being cinched, buckles shined, and lassoes adjusted for a day on the Black rodeo circuit in honor of the holiday. In the late 1970s, as they had been doing for generations, Black communities across the region held local rodeos for the talented cowboys and cowgirls who were segregated from the mainstream circuit. It was to these vibrant community events that bestselling Texas writer Sarah Bird, then a young photojournalist, found herself drawn.

In Juneteenth Rodeo, Bird’s lens celebrates a world that was undervalued at the time, capturing everything, from the moment the pit master fired up his smoker, through the death-defying rides, to the last celebratory dance at a nearby honky-tonk. Essays by Bird and sports historian Demetrius Pearson reclaim the crucial role of Black Americans in the Western US and show modern rodeo riders—who still compete on today’s circuit—as “descendants” in a more than two-hundred-year lineage of Black cowboys. A gorgeous tribute to the ropers and riders—legends like Willie Thomas, Myrtis Dightman, Rufus Green, Bailey’s Prairie Kid, Archie Wycoff, and Calvin Greeley—as well as the secretaries, judges, and pick-up men and even the audience members who were as much family as fans, Juneteenth Rodeo ultimately seeks to put Black cowboys and cowgirls where they have always belonged: in the center of the frame.

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Kelso
The Horse of Gold
Linda Kennedy
Westholme Publishing, 2007
The Inspiring True Story of One of the Most Successful and Beloved Thoroughbreds in Racing History

Praise for Kelso: The Horse of Gold:
“Ms. Kennedy has captured the grandeur of the horse in a simple, straightforward way that will charm and excite those who saw Kelso run and remember his stirring deeds. . . . Kelso's racing record through eight seasons is simply breathtaking.”—Wall Street Journal
“In this concise, entertaining account, Kennedy tells the story of Kelso, a scrawny ungainly gelding who just happened to be one of the greatest Thoroughbreds that ever lived.”—Publishers Weekly
“An excellent portrayal... so intense that one has the sensation of being right there with the crowd and cheering Kelso on.”—Tom Trotter, Former New York Racing Secretary

“He was the greatest horse I ever rode.”—Eddie Arcaro, rider of Triple Crown champions Whirlaway, Assault, and Citation
“He is unique... an athlete like Babe Ruth and Bobby Jones.” —Sports Illustrated
At his three-year debut in June 1960, no one could know that Mrs. Allaire DuPont’s small, deerlike gelding named Kelso would come to dominate American racing like no other horse before or since. For five unprecedented years, he would reign as Horse of the Year, setting records and endearing himself to millions of fans. Always considered among the top four horses of all time—with Man O' War, Secretariat, and Citation—for many, Kelso is the greatest racehorse, since he won at sprints and endurance races, won on turf and dirt, carried unprecedented handicap weights, and raced both foreign and national thoroughbreds. Kelso was crowned champion of the Jockey Gold Cup, one of the most prestigious racing events, an astounding five straight times. Like Seabiscuit, Kelso was not earmarked as a contender and missed the Triple Crown races. But Kelso's greatness was decisive: he regularly defeated Triple Crown race winners. In Kelso: The Horse of Gold, Linda Kennedy tells the remarkable story of one of the greatest athletes of the ages, recreating the excitement of "Kelly's" unique and brilliant career while placing his unparalleled achievements in the context of racing history.
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Race Horse Men
How Slavery and Freedom Were Made at the Racetrack
Katherine C. Mooney
Harvard University Press, 2014

Race Horse Men recaptures the vivid sights, sensations, and illusions of nineteenth-century thoroughbred racing, America’s first mass spectator sport. Inviting readers into the pageantry of the racetrack, Katherine C. Mooney conveys the sport’s inherent drama while also revealing the significant intersections between horse racing and another quintessential institution of the antebellum South: slavery.

A popular pastime across American society, horse racing was most closely identified with an elite class of southern owners who bred horses and bet large sums of money on these spirited animals. The central characters in this story are not privileged whites, however, but the black jockeys, grooms, and horse trainers who sometimes called themselves race horse men and who made the racetrack run. Mooney describes a world of patriarchal privilege and social prestige where blacks as well as whites could achieve status and recognition and where favored slaves endured an unusual form of bondage. For wealthy white men, the racetrack illustrated their cherished visions of a harmonious, modern society based on human slavery.

After emancipation, a number of black horsemen went on to become sports celebrities, their success a potential threat to white supremacy and a source of pride for African Americans. The rise of Jim Crow in the early twentieth century drove many horsemen from their jobs, with devastating consequences for them and their families. Mooney illuminates the role these too often forgotten men played in Americans’ continuing struggle to define the meaning of freedom.

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