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The Horse God Built: The Untold Story of Secretariat, the World's Greatest Racehorse | 
 enlarge | Author: Lawrence Scanlan
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $12.95
You Save: $12.00 (48%)
New (23) Used (8) from $9.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  12 reviews
Sales Rank: 49426
Media: Hardcover
Edition: First Edition
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 335
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.3
ISBN: 0312367244
Dewey Decimal Number: 798.400929
EAN: 9780312367244
ASIN: 0312367244
Publication Date: May 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: brand new, no marks
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
He was the perfect horse, it was said, “the horse God built.”
Most of us know the legend of Secretariat, the tall, handsome chestnut racehorse whose string of honors runs long and rich: the only two-year-old ever to win Horse of the Year, in 1972; winner in 1973 of the Triple Crown, his times in all three races still unsurpassed; featured on the cover of Time, Newsweek, and Sports Illustrated; the only horse listed on ESPN’s top fifty athletes of the twentieth century (ahead of Mickey Mantle). His final race at Toronto’s Woodbine Racetrack is a touchstone memory for horse lovers everywhere. Yet while Secretariat will be remembered forever, one man, Eddie “Shorty” Sweat, who was pivotal to the great horse’s success, has been all but forgotten---until now.
In The Horse God Built, bestselling equestrian writer Lawrence Scanlan has written a tribute to an exceptional man that is also a backroads journey to a corner of the racing world rarely visited. As a young black man growing up in South Carolina, Eddie Sweat struggled at several occupations before settling on the job he was born for---groom to North America’s finest racehorses. As Secretariat’s groom, loyal friend, and protector, Eddie understood the horse far better than anyone else. A wildly generous man who could read a horse with his eyes, he shared in little of the financial success or glamour of Secretariat’s wins on the track, but won the heart of Big Red with his soft words and relentless devotion.
In Scanlan’s rich narrative, we get a groom’s-eye view of the racing world and the vantage of a man who spent every possible moment with the horse he loved, yet who often basked in the horse’s glory from the sidelines. More than anything else, The Horse God Built is a moving portrait of the powerful bond between human and horse.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 7 more reviews...
 I could not put this book down, it was fabulous! December 6, 2007
Mr. Scanlon's book was one of the best books written about the Thorougbred racing industry and it's key players, the horses and the people behind the scenes. It was so touching to hear stories I have never heard of about Secretariat ( and I have read every book written on him) and the heart wrenching love his beloved groom, Eddie Sweat had for him. I could not put the book down and was sad when it ended. There is so much lore to the racing world and the grooms that put their charges first before themselves will touch your heart!
Secretariat November 29, 2007
AMAZING Book!!!! I would recommend it to anyone that wants to read about Secretariat! The bond between Eddie and Secretariat is so touching and real! So far best book I have read about a famous horses life, very real!!!
 Last by 30 lengths... November 13, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I had high hopes for this book, but was ultimately disapointed. Like other reviewers, I do not know where the author was trying to go with this. There are a few nice stories about Big Red and his accomplishments, but most of it is about his handlers, etc. That was great for a page or two, but it quickly became tedious and then proceeded to ridiculous. It reminded me of a grad student who has fifteen pages of work, but needs to fill in the gaps with anything that comes to mind to get to the assigned fifty pages. Don't bother with this one.
The Horse God Built August 2, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I would recommend this book to any horse lover or Secretariat enthusiast. My interest in this subject is relatively new. I learned quite a bit from reading this book. Horse racing often seems cold hearted. I enjoyed reading about the relationship between Eddie and Secretariat.
could have been so much better July 11, 2007
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
Like other reviewers, I assumed this was a book about Secretariat. Why? Well, the title is "The Horse That God Built." Not "All the often unacknowledged souls who cared for the horse that God built," which would've been more accurate, if too cumbersome. I love horses, have owned, ridden and worked around them since I was young, but this book was hard going. At first, the author states that he's going to also write about Eddie Sweat, Secretariat's beloved groom. Well, that was fine, too. It sounded like an unique angle, and certainly Sweat deserves acknowledgement. I also thought it would be intriguing to read a book that seemed to promise that it would address the class differences in the racehorse world head on. However, I never did figure out what the author's thesis was.
The stories about Secretariat and his crew were certainly interesting. Hero worship of "Big Red" reached such proportions in the seventies, that he appeared on the cover of Time and fans begged for a strand of his mane or even some manure. Still, after awhile, I wanted more than just reminescing that seemed random. I wished the book's structure had shaped itself more in a chronological order of either Secretariat's or Eddie's career. Overall, it read like a magazine story and should have been given more editing in order for it to become a cohesive book.
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