The book Racing Horses – about my father's business is written in an attempt to reinforce the fading oral tradition which used to be the primary means of transferring horse sense from one generation to the next.

It harks back to a time when racing lads had served an apprenticeship and racehorses were able to be exercised without horsewalkers or ACP sedation, and when Aureomycin spray was the newest attraction in the veterinary's box of tricks.

Practical advice

It advocates reapplying the common sense, care and repair, observational approach which obtained before the horse industry allowed the smoke and mirrors of masking drugs and expensive surgeries to take over.

It explains clearly just how effective very simple precepts can be in improving the viability – or at least in reducing the liabilities – of a racing stable.

Who is the book for?

If you are thinking of becoming involved in thoroughbred racing then you should probably buy this book first.

If you have horses already, and are losing both your money and your enthusiasm hand over fist, then you should definitely buy this book now.

This easy to read work will improve your ability to buy and sell viable racehorses, to recognise their potential or lack of it and act accordingly, and to both anticipate and deal with their problems. It will also give you an appreciation of the art of raceriding and so should greatly improve your day to day enjoyment of racing.

As a young professional horseman it should not only help you to avoid many pitfalls, equine and human, but should also help you to operate your business on a more sustainable financial basis.

Survival manual

Racing Horses is the definitive survival manual for the thoroughbred business. It stresses that making money from ownership may be an unrealistic aim, but it does show you how to cut down risk and play up any potential profit in order to enable a longer and more pleasurable innings.

At the very least, studying this book will ensure that you can hold your own with almost anyone on the general subject of racehorses, but at best it could transform your racing life.

It has nice pictures, too.