Not By a Long Shot: A Season at a Hard Luck Horse Track

(Paperback)

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Description

In Not by a Long Shot, veteran racing reporter and press box personality T. D. Thornton takes us inside the remote corners of a once-glamorous Thoroughbred race track thats fallen on hard times. Suffolk Downs-or SufferinDowns-is where grizzled Thoroughbreds come to end their careers, hopeful young jockeys aspire against daunting odds to begin them, and diehard fans cheer, curse, and gamble on the entire fascinating spectacle. Thornton brings to life an unforgettable cast of characters, and provides a deeply textured portrait of the engaging, profane, and unfathomably mysterious world of horse racing-where even the best in the business lose 75 percent of the time.

Reviews

"Not By a Long Shot is the sort of book American sports writers do better than almost anyone else, filled with anecdotes and atmosphere and underpinned with solid reporting and great quotes. Worth reading even if you're not a race fan." Observer "In Not by a Long Shot, (TD Thornton) offers an insider's version of a single four-month winter season at Suffolk Downs, a day-by-day, blow-by-blow account of the many and varied walks of racetrack life at close to the bottom level... In his most successful sections, Thornton turns the spotlight on an unsung, woebegone array of diehards." Racing Post"

Author Bio

T.D. Thornton has written for several newspapers, most notably The Boston Globe and the national Thoroughbred daily The Racing Times. His work has appeared in an array of literary journals, and he often comments on racing on television and radio. He lives outside of Boston.