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Thoroughbred #15
Glory's Triumph
Has Cindy given up on horses for good?
Cindy Blake has finally found a home and a family she loves -- her life at Whitebrook Farm is almost perfect. Then the champion racehorse Townsend Princess is injured, and Cindy feels responsible. If only she had more experience with horses, she could have prevented Princess from racing.
After Princess's accident, Cindy won't go anywhere near her favorite horse, Glory. She's afraid she could cause him to be hurt, too. But without Cindy's training and love, Glory will never become a racehorse. Will Cindy find the courage to make Glory a champion?
Cindy Blake has finally found a home and a family she loves -- her life at Whitebrook Farm is almost perfect. Then the champion racehorse Townsend Princess is injured, and Cindy feels responsible. If only she had more experience with horses, she could have prevented Princess from racing.
After Princess's accident, Cindy won't go anywhere near her favorite horse, Glory. She's afraid she could cause him to be hurt, too. But without Cindy's training and love, Glory will never become a racehorse. Will Cindy find the courage to make Glory a champion?
208 pages, Paperback
First published November 27, 1995
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
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April 26, 2024****DNF****
This book is one huge fever dream.
As the first book in this series by a ghost writer that’s not a Special Edition, it’s not very good. It feels very disjointed and disconnected from the first 14 books along with just weird things happening and being done to the plot and characters. For example, Cindy is now nervous to talk to Ashleigh—why? This was never a thing.
Then Glory starts spooking at nothing for no reason other then ✨the plot✨ called for it just so he could be magically cured by a strange guru trainer’s advice of talking to him when he spooks. 🤨 Ohkay… And by the way in case this wasn’t clear just ✨talking✨ to a nervous horse—which you would already do anyways—miraculously cures his spookiness.
I’m sorry, what?
Add on top of that a whole plot line of a horse who had already broken its leg once breaks the same leg again yet somehow survives along with the whole disabled riders are now jumping courses of fences and I just can’t—where did reality go exactly? I’d be told this was unrealistic if I wrote it as a fantasy, let alone a contemporary!
This book was so weird which is why I quit.
(Sorry no content notes since I didn’t finish it! In all honesty though I would just skip this one so you guys don’t actually need them! 😆)
This book is one huge fever dream.
As the first book in this series by a ghost writer that’s not a Special Edition, it’s not very good. It feels very disjointed and disconnected from the first 14 books along with just weird things happening and being done to the plot and characters. For example, Cindy is now nervous to talk to Ashleigh—why? This was never a thing.
Then Glory starts spooking at nothing for no reason other then ✨the plot✨ called for it just so he could be magically cured by a strange guru trainer’s advice of talking to him when he spooks. 🤨 Ohkay… And by the way in case this wasn’t clear just ✨talking✨ to a nervous horse—which you would already do anyways—miraculously cures his spookiness.
I’m sorry, what?
Add on top of that a whole plot line of a horse who had already broken its leg once breaks the same leg again yet somehow survives along with the whole disabled riders are now jumping courses of fences and I just can’t—where did reality go exactly? I’d be told this was unrealistic if I wrote it as a fantasy, let alone a contemporary!
This book was so weird which is why I quit.
(Sorry no content notes since I didn’t finish it! In all honesty though I would just skip this one so you guys don’t actually need them! 😆)
April 30, 2015
A great series for tweens that love horses and/or are interested in horseback riding or racing. Teaches about the struggles of working with animals and the benefits.
September 15, 2024
And now the flimsy torch has been passed from original author Joanna Campbell (real name Jo Ann Simon) to the first of a series of ghostwriters, Karen Bently. Bently would be the only ghostwriter that Campbell/Simon claimed to like, according to a 2014 online interview.
Bently was a better writer than Campbell/Simon. And she clearly liked horses. However, she would continue the the tradition of not writing realistically about horse racing. She would also start another tradition in the Thoroughbred series ... a lack of continuity.
The Cindy portion of the series was, for the most part, completely forgettable. This book is no exception. I read this less than two years ago and barely remember it. I started flipping through my copy before I wrote a review, and gave up a few chapters in.
I just could not be bothered.
Horses that show up include Glory, Wonder (in foal to Townsend Victor), Bo Jangles, Shining (still racing), those two orphaned foals from book 12, Mr. Wonderful as a new 2 year old, Townsend Princess, Matchless, Sagebrush (who I don't think we ever see again) and the wonderfully named Polar Danzig. At least that showed a nod to one of the most popular and influential stallions of the time, Danzig (a son of Northern Dancer who died in 2006, but was still quite fertile when this book was published in 1996).
Wonder's Pride appears briefly ... and is misnamed Townsend Pride. Now, Wonder's Pride starred in his own books. After Wonder, he was the series' second most important horse up until Book 11. He's kinda hard to ignore. How do you get the name of such a horse character wrong?
It's not exactly an auspicious beginning.
There is a bit with the Pony Commandos, but their time was clearly coming to an end, since the series is no longer in Samantha's point of view.
A good part of the story is taken up with the final races of Townsend Princess' career. Cindy blames herself for the filly's breakdown, even though she's only 12. Adults afterwards justly kick themselves for not trotting Townsend Princess out when Cindy thought she saw the filly take a lame step. It is common practice for any horse or pony, no matter the breed, to be trotted on a level surface to determine lameness. That's kinda Lameness 101.
Oh, yeah -- this is the SECOND time she breaks a leg during this series. Is it possible for a filly to race again after breaking a leg? Surprisingly, yes. One such racer was Personal Ensign (1984 - 2010) who broke her leg when she was two. Not only did she go back to the races, but she was never defeated. However, her connections raced her infrequently because of her past injury.
Not so here.
It was telling that just before Townsend Princess breaks down in her last race, Cindy suddenly yells, "You're killing her!"
That would be as close as the series ever got to facing the hard facts of Thoroughbred racing.
Bently was a better writer than Campbell/Simon. And she clearly liked horses. However, she would continue the the tradition of not writing realistically about horse racing. She would also start another tradition in the Thoroughbred series ... a lack of continuity.
The Cindy portion of the series was, for the most part, completely forgettable. This book is no exception. I read this less than two years ago and barely remember it. I started flipping through my copy before I wrote a review, and gave up a few chapters in.
I just could not be bothered.
Horses that show up include Glory, Wonder (in foal to Townsend Victor), Bo Jangles, Shining (still racing), those two orphaned foals from book 12, Mr. Wonderful as a new 2 year old, Townsend Princess, Matchless, Sagebrush (who I don't think we ever see again) and the wonderfully named Polar Danzig. At least that showed a nod to one of the most popular and influential stallions of the time, Danzig (a son of Northern Dancer who died in 2006, but was still quite fertile when this book was published in 1996).
Wonder's Pride appears briefly ... and is misnamed Townsend Pride. Now, Wonder's Pride starred in his own books. After Wonder, he was the series' second most important horse up until Book 11. He's kinda hard to ignore. How do you get the name of such a horse character wrong?
It's not exactly an auspicious beginning.
There is a bit with the Pony Commandos, but their time was clearly coming to an end, since the series is no longer in Samantha's point of view.
A good part of the story is taken up with the final races of Townsend Princess' career. Cindy blames herself for the filly's breakdown, even though she's only 12. Adults afterwards justly kick themselves for not trotting Townsend Princess out when Cindy thought she saw the filly take a lame step. It is common practice for any horse or pony, no matter the breed, to be trotted on a level surface to determine lameness. That's kinda Lameness 101.
Oh, yeah -- this is the SECOND time she breaks a leg during this series. Is it possible for a filly to race again after breaking a leg? Surprisingly, yes. One such racer was Personal Ensign (1984 - 2010) who broke her leg when she was two. Not only did she go back to the races, but she was never defeated. However, her connections raced her infrequently because of her past injury.
Not so here.
It was telling that just before Townsend Princess breaks down in her last race, Cindy suddenly yells, "You're killing her!"
That would be as close as the series ever got to facing the hard facts of Thoroughbred racing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 8, 2017
A new champion for whitebrook farms
October 4, 2017
I liked this book there were some twists but over all it was good and very action packed.
October 6, 2025
Childhood favourite series (haven't read in a long time) giving all four stars unless it was a favourite as a child.
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January 22, 2009JAR4-Cam
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews