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Thoroughbred #35
Dead Heat
Galloping head to head...
Melanie Graham is thrilled. She loves exercise riding, and she's good at it, too! Her aunt Ashleigh says Melanie would make a great jockey - she's really thriving at Whitebrook.
But Melanie's not alone. Her friend Kevin McLean also wants to exercise-ride, and soon Melanie an Kevin are galloping together on the Whitebrook track. Racing for fun turns serious as Melanie becomes more and more competitive, testing their friendship to the limit. Kevin thinks Melanie is pushing herself too hard. Will she slow down before it's too late?
Melanie Graham is thrilled. She loves exercise riding, and she's good at it, too! Her aunt Ashleigh says Melanie would make a great jockey - she's really thriving at Whitebrook.
But Melanie's not alone. Her friend Kevin McLean also wants to exercise-ride, and soon Melanie an Kevin are galloping together on the Whitebrook track. Racing for fun turns serious as Melanie becomes more and more competitive, testing their friendship to the limit. Kevin thinks Melanie is pushing herself too hard. Will she slow down before it's too late?
176 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 1999
259 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 16, 2024
Okay, I want to know who approved of this atrocious cover because frankly it sucks and always has. I mean, look at that thing! Why would you want that within two hundred feet of your book?! I sure wouldn’t!
The story’s pretty basic, Melanie wants to be a jockey someday and starts getting too overly focused and competitive with everyone around her before learning to snap out of it by the end, and it was overall okay with good characterization of everyone.
That’s pretty much it, so bye! 😂
‼️Content‼️
Language: gee; heck
Violence: a bridge breaks under horses; a character nearly falls into a gorge
The story’s pretty basic, Melanie wants to be a jockey someday and starts getting too overly focused and competitive with everyone around her before learning to snap out of it by the end, and it was overall okay with good characterization of everyone.
That’s pretty much it, so bye! 😂
‼️Content‼️
Language: gee; heck
Violence: a bridge breaks under horses; a character nearly falls into a gorge
November 14, 2024
This is the very last book before the series self-destructs into some sort of alternate universe of the alternate universe that started in book 24, The Horse of Her Dreams. I gave this three stars just because it's so much better than what comes next. If you've come this far in the series, STOP NOW.
It only gets worse from here. Much worse. Think you can guess how bad it could possibly get? Well, it even gets worse than that.
This is the last book of the Saddle Club-like phase, of Christina being a blonde, of Sterling being the horse of Christina's dreams, of Dylan, Dakota, Katie, Seabreeze, and most of the kids and their horses we've met until now. Many of the horses at Whitebrook vanish. I think this is the last book that mentions Jasper, Kevin's Anglo-Arab.
Melanie gets serious about exercise riding, and takes lessons by riding a hay bale in jockey seat position. This is one of the only books in the series that actually points out how painful that position is. This is why even veteran professional jockeys do not put their feet in the stirrups until they are either warming up their mounts, or just before going in the starting gate.
There's also a big trail ride with all of the gang we've gotten to know in the last 11 books. Looking back, it was a sad way to say goodbye. This was written by Alice Leonhardt, who would continue for many books to come, mostly from Melanie's point of view.
The covers for Thoroughbred are notoriously bad, but this one had excellent horses, albeit what horses they are, who knows. Melanie and Kevin were okay, but no way they would be wearing regular hard hats. They would be wearing jockeys helmets with goggles. I can't even remember if this scene happened in the book. The little teaser is the best in the series. You know, the little question on the cover like "Has training ruined Wonder?" This time, we get the absolute best of the series:
Slow down, Melanie!
Other horses that appear include Pirate, Trib, Midnight (a horse Parker is riding, since I think Foxy was still recovering from her injuries), First Term, Pride's Perfection, Pride's Heart, Leap of Faith (somehow a grey), Shining Moment, Thunder Bones, Sly Miss, Heart of Stone (who is a dark bay here), and Wind Chaser. Now, this horse was set up to be the Next Big Horse in the series. He was a two year old descended from Secretariat, bought by Samantha AND her father. The cost gets the rest of the family upset. Christina is so impressed with Wind Chaser's looks and movements, that she wants to breed him to Sterling.
We would find out nothing about Wind Chaser after this big build-up, except for a casual mention in I think just one sentence in a much later book.
Yet one more thing HarperCollins should be ashamed of.
It only gets worse from here. Much worse. Think you can guess how bad it could possibly get? Well, it even gets worse than that.
This is the last book of the Saddle Club-like phase, of Christina being a blonde, of Sterling being the horse of Christina's dreams, of Dylan, Dakota, Katie, Seabreeze, and most of the kids and their horses we've met until now. Many of the horses at Whitebrook vanish. I think this is the last book that mentions Jasper, Kevin's Anglo-Arab.
Melanie gets serious about exercise riding, and takes lessons by riding a hay bale in jockey seat position. This is one of the only books in the series that actually points out how painful that position is. This is why even veteran professional jockeys do not put their feet in the stirrups until they are either warming up their mounts, or just before going in the starting gate.
There's also a big trail ride with all of the gang we've gotten to know in the last 11 books. Looking back, it was a sad way to say goodbye. This was written by Alice Leonhardt, who would continue for many books to come, mostly from Melanie's point of view.
The covers for Thoroughbred are notoriously bad, but this one had excellent horses, albeit what horses they are, who knows. Melanie and Kevin were okay, but no way they would be wearing regular hard hats. They would be wearing jockeys helmets with goggles. I can't even remember if this scene happened in the book. The little teaser is the best in the series. You know, the little question on the cover like "Has training ruined Wonder?" This time, we get the absolute best of the series:
Slow down, Melanie!
Other horses that appear include Pirate, Trib, Midnight (a horse Parker is riding, since I think Foxy was still recovering from her injuries), First Term, Pride's Perfection, Pride's Heart, Leap of Faith (somehow a grey), Shining Moment, Thunder Bones, Sly Miss, Heart of Stone (who is a dark bay here), and Wind Chaser. Now, this horse was set up to be the Next Big Horse in the series. He was a two year old descended from Secretariat, bought by Samantha AND her father. The cost gets the rest of the family upset. Christina is so impressed with Wind Chaser's looks and movements, that she wants to breed him to Sterling.
We would find out nothing about Wind Chaser after this big build-up, except for a casual mention in I think just one sentence in a much later book.
Yet one more thing HarperCollins should be ashamed of.
October 24, 2025
Childhood favourite series, giving all four stars unless it was a favourite.
February 5, 2022
This is going to be a short, cute little review. It's been years since I've picked up one of Joanna Campbell's Thoroughbred books, and clearly years because I didn't realize how young the characters were! The main "line" of the story was about a young girl who gets so obsessed about with learning how to become a jockey that she puts it first in front of everything else and becomes blind to everyone around her. She struggles to understand why her friends are upset with her and half the time I also felt like Melanie is just being too competitive for her own good. It's not helpful for her and it's a bit annoying to read about a character who's all self obsessed and doesn't put others first. It takes some time but spoiler alert, Melanie finally learns what's most important; putting others first.
Anyway, it was an okay book, but it was slow for me and not really in my age group.
Anyway, it was an okay book, but it was slow for me and not really in my age group.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews