"Epsom Downs, 3rd May, 1769: a chestnut with a white blaze scorches across the turf towards the finishing post. His four rivals are so far behind him that, in racing terms, they are 'nowhere'. Awestruck, his spectators know they are in the presence of greatness. Eclipse will go on to become the undisputed, undefeated champion of his sport. He will found dynasties that will dominate the bloodstock market - not only in Britain, but in every other country where thoroughbreds race. His influence will be such that ninety-five per cent of horses racing today are his male-line descendants."--Publisher's description.

Nicholas Clee

New York: Overlook Press

Overlook Press, The

Abrams, Inc.

United States, United States of America

1, 2013

cut off text page 298-299 due to tight margin and binding
cut off text

343 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : 20 cm
Traces the story of the champion whose descendants have included Secretariat, Barbaro, and all but three of the past half-century's Kentucky Derby winners, offering insight into the role played by owner, racing outcast, and gambler Dennis O'Kelly
Originally published: Great Britain : Bantam Press, 2009
Includes bibliographical references (pages 314-321) and index
Prologue -- The chairman -- The bawd -- The gambler -- The duke -- The meat salesman -- The young thoroughbred -- Coup de Foudre -- The rest nowhere -- 1-100 Eclipse -- The first lady abbess -- The stallion -- The most glorious spectacle -- Cross and jostle -- An example to the turf -- The 14lb heart -- The litigant -- The decline of the jontleman -- Artists' models -- Eclipse's legacy : the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries -- Eclipse's legacy : the twentieth and twenty-first centuries -- The skeleton -- Appendix 1 : Eclipse's racing career -- Appendix 2 : Eclipse's pedigree -- Appendix 3 : The O'Kelly family -- Appendix 4 : Racing terms, historical and contemporary

2023-06-28