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Born to Race
Suzy Taylor is the daughter of a Virginia horse breeder. When Whickery is born, Suzy and the foal are inseparable as she prepares him for the Kentucky Derby. When she gets to
the raceground, however, she finds she’s barred because of her age, until her friend the Governor intercedes, and she is able to watch Whickery run an historic race.
the raceground, however, she finds she’s barred because of her age, until her friend the Governor intercedes, and she is able to watch Whickery run an historic race.
148 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1959
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35 people want to read
About the author
Blanche Chenery Perrin
21 books2 followersBlanche Browning Chenery Perrin (1894–1973). She is probably best known as the mother of Noel Perrin, essayist and Professor at Dartmouth College. Both she and her husband, Edwin O Perrin, worked in advertising. Edwin O Perrin was a copywriter at the J Walter Thompson Agency, and Blanche was the first woman the Agency hired to copywrite. Their son, Noel Perrin, became an essayist and writer.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
June 13, 2022
What a wonderful book from childhood to reread. Suzy lives on a horse farm where they breed thoroughbreds for racing. Whickery, a filly, is special-at least as far as Suzy is concerned. We follow along from birth, to training, and then racing. Horse crazy girls would love this book even it is a bit dated.
September 15, 2011
Loved this as a child, but am not sure what I'd think of the content, anymore. I do remember a few of the drawings, and something having to do with a jackknife, a girl, a coin, and of course, a horse. :) (Not sure if my memory is remembering all those things correctly.)
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November 26, 2019My book for second quarter is called Born to Race by Blanche Chenery Perrin. This book was published in 1959, I could not find a lexile level. On CherryDale farms their best racehorse Falada has gotten hurt is to never be race again. Now Mr. Taylor has to make new plans for her. In the life of horse racing a hurt mare is either put down, sold, or turned to a broodmare if she is able too. As for Falada she was turned into a broodmare. When the time came she gave birth to Whickery, a little filly. The Taylors are counting on this filly to lead them to victory.
The theme of my book is to never give up, even in times of doubt never stop believing. When Falada got hurt in a race, Cherry Dale farms was in doubt. They needed that mare to win purses for them so they could pay off their loan from the bank. God had different plans for them. Mr. Taylor didn’t give up. After some rest Fadala was bred. She gave birth to a filly, Whickery. “A baby that Whickers the way she did before she could even get up on her feet is strong.” (18) When Whickery was old enough to start her training she was worried. “Looks to me that Whickery is fixing to be a real stall walker,” Ben said to Mr. Taylor. “And I don’t like the way she sweats and trembles.” (88) Whickery is very nervous with all the training. She learns how to carry a rider, have a saddle on, a bit in her mouth, a blanket on, how to stand in the stall, how to stand in the starting gate and so on. Mr. Taylor is worried she won’t be what they think they need to save the farm. Then comes race day at the derby. “Whickery seems as calm as if she were on the track at home.” (152) With all the trainer and races before Whickery is ready. She is calm and collected. “A second later, the whistle blew, and the announcer's voice called “They’re off!!!.” (152)
This book was enjoyable to me because I want to train racehorses in my future. I liked that it had a bunch of stories going on at once. It was predictable because in these kind of books the runner/athlete usually wins at the end. It was enjoyable. The author put real emotions and real problems in this book. Then threw the story the characters became closer as a family and the problems were resolved.
The theme of my book is to never give up, even in times of doubt never stop believing. When Falada got hurt in a race, Cherry Dale farms was in doubt. They needed that mare to win purses for them so they could pay off their loan from the bank. God had different plans for them. Mr. Taylor didn’t give up. After some rest Fadala was bred. She gave birth to a filly, Whickery. “A baby that Whickers the way she did before she could even get up on her feet is strong.” (18) When Whickery was old enough to start her training she was worried. “Looks to me that Whickery is fixing to be a real stall walker,” Ben said to Mr. Taylor. “And I don’t like the way she sweats and trembles.” (88) Whickery is very nervous with all the training. She learns how to carry a rider, have a saddle on, a bit in her mouth, a blanket on, how to stand in the stall, how to stand in the starting gate and so on. Mr. Taylor is worried she won’t be what they think they need to save the farm. Then comes race day at the derby. “Whickery seems as calm as if she were on the track at home.” (152) With all the trainer and races before Whickery is ready. She is calm and collected. “A second later, the whistle blew, and the announcer's voice called “They’re off!!!.” (152)
This book was enjoyable to me because I want to train racehorses in my future. I liked that it had a bunch of stories going on at once. It was predictable because in these kind of books the runner/athlete usually wins at the end. It was enjoyable. The author put real emotions and real problems in this book. Then threw the story the characters became closer as a family and the problems were resolved.
November 22, 2016
Born to Race tells the story of a family, particularly their young daughter, raising racehorses and trying to make it in the business. It's a hard life, and you are always waiting on that one big winner to come along and make the farm viable. When Falada fails at that task, her foal Whickery is their last shot at greatness. The whole family throws themselves behind making this dream a reality, and none feels it more personally than young Suzy. As we learn about the bond this family shares, we also watch Suzy blossom into a young woman with a good head on her shoulders. The tension builds as we hold our collective breath and hope for the best.
September 5, 2022
A nice horse story. Some dated references.
A girl loves and horse and thinks she’s wonderful, will help the family get out of debt and win the biggest Ed horse race there is—she does. Alls well that ends well. My 5-year-old rates this as a 5-star read. 😆
A girl loves and horse and thinks she’s wonderful, will help the family get out of debt and win the biggest Ed horse race there is—she does. Alls well that ends well. My 5-year-old rates this as a 5-star read. 😆
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 6, 2019
A classic children's novel, that I did five book reports on.
February 9, 2021
I loved this book as a child! I bought it from Scholastic and read it over and over again for weeks. I wish I still had my copy.
March 28, 2024
Written by an aunt of Penny Chenery, who owned Secretariat, this book stoked the love of horses 🐎 at a very early age. 65+ years later, I'm still a horse crazy woman.
February 22, 2021
This short book was a surprisingly enjoyable read! It's fairly straightforward, but still rather lovely in all of its "old-timey" horse farm goodness. I always enjoy reading books that involve horses in some way though, so I am slightly biased. ;P
This book was well-written and easy to read; simple but not entirely undescriptive. There was some old, out-of-date language used, of course, due to it originally being published in the late 1950s, but not so much that it brought me out of the story for more than a moment. The few illustrations found within were a nice touch too. They added a little "life" to the book and made the scenes described throughout much easier to visualize and picture in my head.
I loved seeing "behind-the-scenes" of what horse racing in the USA was like back then, particularly with getting a glimpse of the entire "process" (from broodmare, to foal, to weanling, to yearling, and then the progression of the training and racing too). At the same time, it all felt rather "perfect" and a bit too sequential most of the time. It was just a little unrealistic. I did like the mystery side plot that was subtly thrown in to add a bit more drama (though, again, its resolution was a little lacklustre and also fairly predictable. :/)
2020 Reading Project: [Book 1 of 55]
I've been a horse lover for most of my life and I've obtained quite a few books related to them over the years. Both my mom and her sister (my aunt) love horses as well and they slowly gifted me all of their old novels over several Christmases and birthdays throughout my tween/teen years. This year, I've decided to set myself a project of reading all of those old books again, now that I'm an adult, along with the few that I've bought myself over the years. There are over 50 of them, so it's going to take a while, but most of them are under 200 pages and meant for young readers, so they should be pretty easy to get through. I'm curious to see what I'll think of them, now that I'm 10+ years older.
This book was well-written and easy to read; simple but not entirely undescriptive. There was some old, out-of-date language used, of course, due to it originally being published in the late 1950s, but not so much that it brought me out of the story for more than a moment. The few illustrations found within were a nice touch too. They added a little "life" to the book and made the scenes described throughout much easier to visualize and picture in my head.
I loved seeing "behind-the-scenes" of what horse racing in the USA was like back then, particularly with getting a glimpse of the entire "process" (from broodmare, to foal, to weanling, to yearling, and then the progression of the training and racing too). At the same time, it all felt rather "perfect" and a bit too sequential most of the time. It was just a little unrealistic. I did like the mystery side plot that was subtly thrown in to add a bit more drama (though, again, its resolution was a little lacklustre and also fairly predictable. :/)
2020 Reading Project: [Book 1 of 55]
I've been a horse lover for most of my life and I've obtained quite a few books related to them over the years. Both my mom and her sister (my aunt) love horses as well and they slowly gifted me all of their old novels over several Christmases and birthdays throughout my tween/teen years. This year, I've decided to set myself a project of reading all of those old books again, now that I'm an adult, along with the few that I've bought myself over the years. There are over 50 of them, so it's going to take a while, but most of them are under 200 pages and meant for young readers, so they should be pretty easy to get through. I'm curious to see what I'll think of them, now that I'm 10+ years older.
February 16, 2017
The illustrations by Sam Savitt were oh so much better than the book they illustrated. In fact, the illustrations tell a better story about a girl and a thoroughbred filly than the story does.
The problem of a little girl not being allowed on Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby day seems so laughably quaint now. I do have one strange memory associated with this book. This book was the first time I read the words "corn pone". I was born and raised in the North so I had no idea what corn pone was -- and that today it's mostly a term of insult rather than a foodstuff.
The problem of a little girl not being allowed on Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby day seems so laughably quaint now. I do have one strange memory associated with this book. This book was the first time I read the words "corn pone". I was born and raised in the North so I had no idea what corn pone was -- and that today it's mostly a term of insult rather than a foodstuff.
October 8, 2012
I was never really a horse nut but I did have my favorites.
March 27, 2017
I remember as a child, all I wanted to read were books about horses.
This is the one book I held on to and it is a very well worn copy. (complete with tape reinforcements)
So I wanted to re-read it this year and see if I could rediscover the magic that made me hold on to it.
After doing so I can see what had me in love with it the first time so many years ago. This time around I found the characters a bit simple and the foreshadowing obvious. I would probably give it 3 stars if I rated it today but I'm going to let the ten-year-old in me to keep it at 4 stars. I'm not sure a copy can be found these days but any little girl or boy who enjoys horse books would love this story.
This is the one book I held on to and it is a very well worn copy. (complete with tape reinforcements)
So I wanted to re-read it this year and see if I could rediscover the magic that made me hold on to it.
After doing so I can see what had me in love with it the first time so many years ago. This time around I found the characters a bit simple and the foreshadowing obvious. I would probably give it 3 stars if I rated it today but I'm going to let the ten-year-old in me to keep it at 4 stars. I'm not sure a copy can be found these days but any little girl or boy who enjoys horse books would love this story.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews