‘It’s one of the real sports that’s left to us: a bit of danger and a bit of excitement, and the horses, which are the best thing in the world.’ - HM The Queen Mother on National Hunt racing. This book traces how much National Hunt racing has changed since 1945- and also how Britain has changed too. The advent of motorways has made travel easier and racecourse safety has improved but the challenges for jump jockeys -the bravest of the brave- remain. It covers some of the biggest stories in jump racing over the last seventy-five years, including the dramatic collapse of Devon Loch in the 1956 Grand National and the incredible exploits of three-times Grand National winner Red Rum. But it also contains lots of fascinating stories which the reader will not be so aware of, of trainers and horses long forgotten. AUTHOR: Neil Clark is a journalist, broadcaster, author and award-winning blogger. He has contributed numerous articles to leading newspapers, magazines and websites including the Guardian, Daily Mail, Daily Express and the Racing Post and is a regular pundit on current affairs and sport on television and radio. He is the author of Flying Ace: A Racing Legend (1992), Stranger than Fiction, the biography of Edgar Wallace (2014) , and also contributed to the Great Racing Gambles and Frauds series.
24 b/w illustrations