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 enlarge | Author: Lawrence Scanlan
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books
Category: Book
List Price: $24.95
Buy New: $6.71
You Save: $18.24 (73%)
New (27) Used (12) from $6.43
Avg. Customer Rating:  14 reviews
Sales Rank: 252815
Media: Hardcover
Edition: 1st
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
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Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: GREAT Bargain Book Deal - like new, some may have small remainder mark - Ships out by NEXT Business Day - Over ONE MILLION Amazon orders filled - 100% Satisfaction Guarantee!
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| Customer Reviews:
 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.
Disappointing June 25, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I was disappointed in this book as I expected the 'Untold Story' of Secretariat. What I got was a disconnected story of the search for Eddie Sweat. There was some new info and it isn't a total waste but it surely was disappointing.
 Great Magazine Article June 20, 2007
8 out of 9 found this review helpful
Mr. Scanlan, the winner of numerous magazine writing awards, has written another great magazine article. Unfortunately, Mr. Scanlan has written a book instead that does not support his story line past twenty pages. The thrust of the story is that Eddie Sweat, Secretariat's groom, was a super guy who did a fine job, but got left out of the shuffle of recognition of all those who made Secretariat great. Perhaps all of that is true. It is great that Mr. Sweat is getting some focus now. The book just does not have all that much to say past making the acknowledgement of Mr. Sweat's place in the historic picture.
Some of the principles involved in the story Mr. Scanlan writes (my great privilage to know them) have told me that there are many errors of fact. For what I know first hand, Mr. Scanlan never says anything absolutely wrong, and certainly not with malice, but he is careless and he does fall back on others to suggest interpertations that do not reflect reality.
For example, Scanlan, again not directly, bemoans the preservation of Secretariat's birthplace, Meadow Farm, as the new home of the State Fair of Virginia. This shallow conclusion is made from the car window conversation he had with site scavengers. So much is incorrect with this brief passage that it would take too long to detail, but the main point Scanlan misses is that the Meadow would have been turned into 10 acre "farmettes" had the Fair and Caroline County not worked together to keep the Meadow intact. A "farmette" is hardly the fitting end for Secretariat's birthplace.
Now the Meadow will house an equestrian museum that will honor Secretariat while the site will once again become a center of Virginia equestrian events. One phone call would have put this story right. Somehow, the scavengers were unable to brief Scanlan on these plans.
Two Books that Secretariat fans should read are Raymond Wolfe's "Secretariat" (snappy writing along with many amazing images), and Bill Nack's authoritative, "Secretariat: Making of a Champion." Both are fine works.
 Big Disappointment June 11, 2007
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
I absolutely agree with the previous review by Kathleen. This book was the first book I have bought about Secretariat; and I found myself wishing I had read reviews beforehand and bought either of Mr. Nack's books. This book rambled and had no true focus, and the title was very deceiving. I made myself finish the book; I wanted to like it, but I was so disappointed in the simple fact that it was not about the "horse that God built".
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