I want to start in saying author Katie Bo Lillis did a magnificent job researching and working to put so much information together and break it down as she has.

With this said, it seemed to be to be a bit … crowded.

I have been a horse racing fan since I was a small boy and I know of all the players written here. I figured the familiarity with the players and the stories she writes about would help the flow. But if I am being honest, I didn’t find it to be an easy read.

Now, I do not believe in writing negative reviews because my tastes, and that of another, may have nothing in common.

So please understand the word crowded isn’t a criticism here. There was so much to digest, and it felt like it was all coming at me at once. There’s a saying I like which is ”if you underline everything, nothing is important.” I felt like everything was underlined. I needed a chance to catch my breath but didn’t get it.

For some this could be exactly what you’re looking for.

I love this game. I have my whole life. But there are times I abhor it. All the reasons why are in this book. Maybe that was my issue with it. I love these animals and to read the details - in depth and well researched as they were - was simply upsetting.

I want to be clear - these are not statements designed to deter a single horse racing fan/reader away from reading this.

Katie Bo Lillis did a magnificent job of supporting her work and she has written an important book that has not been written before. But for my personal reading preferences. it was a bit of work to get through.

Would I recommend to fellow racing fans? Yes. I would if for no other reason than you will walk away with a much better understanding of what’s not typically front and center in thoroughbred horse racing.

As a life-long horse girl, I have read so many books about horses and horse racing, the Black Stallion being one of my favorite series as a kid, and I have watched the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and the Belmont every year that I can remember. I remember rooting for Big Brown, Fusaichi Pegasus, Smarty Jones and American Pharoah. I have the Breyers, I have a collection of Mint Julep Glasses. I have books on Secretariat and Man O’War, and so on an so forth. And, as angry as this book makes me, as much as I dislike the stories and the facts it collects, I’m going to be getting a physical copy of this book to add to my horse shelf.

Horses races because people make them, and in order to make them run at their best, humans have all sorts of tricks and tips. Special diets, blinders, shadow rolls, whips, and drugs. Anti-inflammatory, dietary supplements, something for pain, something for bleeding, something for joint aches, and … drugs to make a horse go faster. It’s a sad and horrible truth, and this book covers that. Both the sadness of it, and the horrifying fact that drugging a horse has become as much a part of horse racing as the betting, and because of the money horse racing brings in … it’s not likely to change any day soon.

Using Bob Baffert as a familiar name, the book goes over the many different drugs that have been used; what they do for the horse, and how the Jockey Club has worked to regulate them. Some drugs are beneficial, some drugs are performance enhancing. Some are legal in small amounts, some are so new that they can’t be tested for yet, which makes them fair game. And everyone does it, at least at a certain level of racing. The saddest part of this is that — whether it’s the owner’s decision or the trainers, the actions of a vet or a groom, it’s the trainer set up to take responsibility.

This is, in many ways, a grim book, showcasing the reality of horse racing. The almost factory-farm breeding of thousands of thoroughbreds every single year, only a fraction of whom will go on to be racehorses, and an even smaller number going on to be great. How horse racing is seen as a business because states make money off the betting. How excuse after excuse — think of the little stables, how they’re not able to compete without drugs, and if they can’t race, why, they’ll lose money! or What happens to the people who lose their jobs when their owners quit? Won’t somebody think of the horses that will have nowhere to go? — comes out to keep drugging legal, how hard the horse racing system fights against regulation and oversight.

There are no easy answers to the many questions the author brings up about drugging, training, breeding, and the way horses are used, loved, and comodified. You can’t have horse races without horses, after all. And yet, the book points out that there are steps being taken to make racing safer for horses. Veterinary advances to help foresee and prevent breakdowns; guidelines about medication, veterinary oversight, stricter penalties for mistreatment of animals; in recent years the number of deaths have gone down. At Saratoga the deaths in 2023 was 9; in 2024, only one. It is getting better, bit by bit. Of course the bigger question is it too little too late? Can horse racing change quickly enough to keep public opinion from turning against it?

I was so angry reading this book, so upset with the horrible and distasteful reality of it. It’s not just a few trainers in shadowy, run-down stables … it’s a normal trainer trying to get an edge over the competition, trying to eke out one more win, or simply trying to get the best out of their horse. This book has added greatly to my knowledge of the business of horse racing. It’s opened my eyes to some the murkier, more unpleasant parts of the sport that I try not to think about and … I’m glad of it.

Thank you to Net Galley and the publisher for the ARC.

As someone who is involved in the racing industry I found this to be an informative book to read. There are so many issues in racing and this really delves into a lot of them. I hope that someday there are some real solutions. I also hope more people read this to get an insite into an industry that I love but that is filled with corruption.