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The Abstract Primer of Thoroughbred Racing: Separating Myth From Fact to Identify the Genuine Gems & Dandies 1946-2003 reveals the best and brightest stars in virtually every category imaginable in thoroughbred racing since World War II like never before.

Author Richard Sowers employs the same diligence and style that made his highly acclaimed The Complete Statistical History of Stock-Car Racing: Records, Streaks, Oddities, and Trivia a ground-breaking work. No less an authority than Richard Petty, NASCAR's all-time leading winner, said that book "should be the bible for our sport."

Using the results of the 6,461 North American stakes races classified as major since World War II, The Abstract Primer of Thoroughbred Racing confirms the greatness of many of the sport's most notable human and equine heroes. It also reveals countless superstar achievements that inexplicably have been largely forgotten or ignored and might even make you question whether many of the sport's champions and legends actually deserve that status.

The complete records of every thoroughbred's in-the-money finishes in those 6,461 major races and a complete record of victories by jockeys, trainers, owners, stallions and broodmare sires in those same events will make this 536-page hardcover volume the favorite reference material for any aficionado of thoroughbred racing. There also are countless charts that horsemen and horseplayers alike will find fascinating, from the fastest times at each distance on each surface by competitors in each division to the top "breakthrough" jockeys each season to the modern-era standings for each category. Separate listings for the Triple Crown and Breeders' Cup races in every category; the Sire Line Index, which quantifies the influence of every stallion who appears in the first four generations of a major winner's male-line pedigree, and much, much more also help make this the one reference book that anyone who cares about thoroughbred racing simply can't live without.

Ten Tidbits We Bet You Didn't Know
That Are Among the Thousands
You'll Learn by Reading

The Abstract Primer of Thoroughbred Racing

1. Only one thoroughbred has captured three major North American races by 11 or more lengths since World War II.
2. Only one colt or gelding has captured five major North American races as a two-year-old since World War II.
3. Only one colt or gelding since World War II has captured five major North American races as a three-year-old without winning a classic, being voted a champion or being enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
4. Of the 31 thoroughbreds who have won four or more major North American races since World War II by four or more lengths, only one hasn't been a selected a champion or enshrined in the Hall of Fame.
5. Only one thoroughbred has won as many as six major North American races since World War II with all of those triumphs coming on the same track.
6. Only one jockey has captured as many as four major North American races more than 20 years in a row since World War II.
7. Only one trainer since World War II has captured as many as eight or more major North American races 10 years in a row.
8. Only one stallion has sired more than one thoroughbred who won two or more North American classic races since World War II.
9. Only one three-year-old beat his elders in major North American races on four occasions since World War II.
10. Only one stallion has been represented by a major North American winner as a broodmare sire more than 20 years in a row since World War II.