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Headless Horsemen: A Tale of Chemical Colts, Subprime Sales Agents, and the Last Kentucky Derby on Steroids |  | Author: Jim Squires
Publisher: Times Books
Category: Book
List Price: $25.00
Buy New: $13.35
as of 11/22/2009 11:29 MST details
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Rating:  10 reviews
Sales Rank: 73728
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 272
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.5 x 1.2
ISBN: 0805090606
Dewey Decimal Number: 798.4009730905
EAN: 9780805090604
ASIN: 0805090606
Publication Date: August 4, 2009
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
A pointed and irreverent critique of thoroughbred racing’s breakdown, by a prominent journalist turned horse breeder Jim Squires was in trouble. He had gone from one business seemingly intent on committing suicide to another, both led over the cliff by visionless leaders. First it was the newspaper bean-counters’ blind adherence to the demands of Wall Street. Then in horse racing it was a clannish group called “the Dinnies” refusing to share power and unable to see that vast overproduction and unbridled greed had created a subprime-like bubble in the market. Overpriced animals of dubious quality and drug-enhanced performance on the track were undermining the integrity of competition and ultimately the very breed itself. With its economic model broken, its tawdry sales practices under attack, and its public image in tatters after a series of televised fatal breakdowns by horses in famous races, the sport was overdue for a reckoning. Headless Horsemen is Squires’s comic but poignant critique of what is happening to the sport and the animals he loves, as he and a small group of unlikely heroes agitate for a return to fair dealing. For anyone who cares about the soul and survival of horse racing, this book is an impassioned call to arms.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 10
 A superb rant, but not an accurate history. October 23, 2009
Richard L. Pangburn (Bardstown, KY USA)
I enjoyed this one, as I enjoyed the author's previous book, which I thought a five-star work. Squires says much that rings true in this one; it rates four stars as a rant, as an entertainment, and as a work of philosophy.
As a work of journalism or history, however, he is much too careless with the facts.
His chapter on "Vets," for instance, seems hastily written and is flat out wrong about a number of things. He has no footnotes and cites no sources and we must guess how he came to some conclusions about historical incidents which happened long before he became involved in the sport.
For instance, his take on the episode where Dr. Alex Harthill 'decked' journalist Billy Reed seems taken from Billy Reed's own account of it, written long after it happened and leaving out some important things. With a little investigating, Jim Squires could have interviewed others who were there and gotten a much different account of the circumstances on that day.
I cheer the sentiment of the work, while shaking my head at the leaps in factual inferences and erroneous nuances of fact.
 Headless Horsemen October 17, 2009
C. M. Wightman (New Zealand)
Well intended and certainly a subject that needs to be addressed by the industry in terms of steroid use & codes of practice in sales as it relates to kick-backs & secret commissions.
A book worth reading for those reasons as it is an outward view on an industry which has historical & self serving issues that need to be exposed and remedied.
Perhaps a book a little lacking in spice and dramatics which compares modestly with a book like THE GAMBLING MAN written by MIKE PERKINS about the Waterhouse family and the FINE COTTON affair in Australia. The best book I've ever read!
The HEADLESS HORSEMEN serves it's purpose well.
Disappointing October 11, 2009
Portland Pony (Portland, OR USA)
This could have been a wonderful book. The subject is good. The writing isn't.
I had to force myself to keep reading until the end. Then I wanted to take all the information from it, spread it out, organize it, and put it back together into a logical and coherent story. I suspect that if I tried that, I'd find some duplicated pieces and a lot of missing ones. Several times, I had to reread sentences trying to make sense of them. I should have made notes so I could give examples of problems, but I didn't, and I'm not about to reread it to do so.
It's a mystery why Mr. Squires thought he should include his ordeal with kidney stones anywhere in the book. His problems with Indian Charlie also seemed off track. He also went on and on about his love for a mare, which seemed to have nothing to do with the subject of the book. These pieces probably could have been woven into the story neatly if more care had been taken with them. Instead, they're just strange, jolting sidetracks.
My impression is that this book was written hastily and put into print without any editor saying, "Whoa, this needs a lot more work!"
Toothless Mudslinger September 22, 2009
Soapy Smith
1 out of 4 found this review helpful
While Squires does aim some well placed arrows at some real problems in the business of TB racing, it's all undercut by his willingness (eagerness)to throw about accusations with no evidence against...well just about everyone. All the while crying 'we was framed" when scientific evidence points at a horse owned by him.
When its all done you are left with a story told by a guy who comes across bitter that he was never accepted into the very cliques he decries.
I will give him this...throwing stones at Indian Charlie was a good way to get free advertising.
 Squires is one of America's Best Story Tellers! September 16, 2009
BookWoman/BookMan TV REVIEWS (Nashville, Tn United States)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
"Insiders rule what goes on at the horse track and what they do to win is better than any true crime book out today. No one tells a better story than best-selling author and a true lover of horses - Jim Squires. Now if he would just write that sequal to Secrets of the Hopewell Box!"
Showing reviews 1-5 of 10
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