Sir Peter O’Sullevan, who died in July 2015, ws closely involved in horse racing for more than seventy years. For television views he was ‘The Voice’, his distinctive tones providing the soundtrack for the sport’s greatest occasions, and he was a superbly well-informed pundit whose unrivalled connections secured him a huge following among punters.
But he was also a superb writer, with a humour so dry and a style so distinctive that his 1989 autobiography Calling the Horses topped the best-seller list.
This new edition of Peter O’Sullevan’s Horse Racing Heroes, first published in 2004, puts O’Sullevan the writer centre stage as he salutes the heroes – equine as well as human – who enriched an extraordinary racing life.
Arkle and Sea Bird, respectively the finest jumping and Flat horses of the twentieth century, are joined by the two best horses who carried O’Sullevan’s own colours: the great sprinter Be Friendly and Attivo, who won the Triumph Hurdle, Chester Cup and Northumberland Plate.
The human heroes form a pantheon of racing immortals: jockeys Lester Piggott, Gordon Richards, Rae Johnstone and Scobie Breasley; trainers Alec Head, Vincent O’Brien and Paddy Prendergast; and Fred Winter, a champion in both occupations.
In this book – all royalties from which go directly to the Peter O’Sullevan Charitable Trust – one racing hero pays affectionate homage to twelve heroes of his own.
Hardback.