My Autobiography

by Davy Russell

From Davy Russell's early life in Youghal to his winning ride on Tiger Roll in the 2018 Grand National, this book has it all. Capturing the highs of an incredible career as a top jockey, from the adrenaline rush of winning the Grand National twice, the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris, it also dwells on the devastating blows that Davy experienced through injury and shows his huge resilience and strength of character.

In the book, Davy tells of his years on the point-to-point scene, his big move to England and his first Cheltenham victory in 2006, his experiences at Michael O'Leary's Gigginstown Stud as the number one rider, working with Gordon Elliot, his charity work with Hurling for Cancer Research, and his retirement. It is a truly remarkable journey written by the most entertaining jockey in the business.

Hardcover

Reviews

[Christopher Wood · Rating 1 out of 5]

This reads like Russel talked into a voice recorder for 10 hours and this was then transcribed word for word into a book. Donn McClean supposedly did the writing. I suspect he was busy that week and got AI to do it for him (some cheap AI). If not, Donn you need a new job. I see from his website that he is also a tipster with positive returns in every year since 2009. Stick to the tipping Donn.

[liam kelleher · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was looking forward to this book as Davy Russell is from Youghal in East Cork near where I was born. I've a keen interest in horse racing also so both reasons aligned. As well as that I've read biographies by other jockeys : Ruby Walsh, AP McCoy, Barry Geraghty etc so was interested to see how this would compare. Overall I must say I was disappointed. In many ways there was too much detail ( he must have named every horse he rode ) and not enough detail ( I was most interested in the Gigginstown relationship/fallout & either Davy didn't want to provide too much detail or maybe there was none. Also I would have liked to have known more about the relationship with some of the other trainers eg. Charles Byrnes who has a reputation for being a betting stable....nothing ...other than platitudes for helping him throughout his career. I suppose I was wrong to expect anything other than that as there was no reason to do so and would have spoilt the relationships over the years but...if you are going to sell a book it would have been good to provide something spicy. There was a lot in there about Tiger Roll as you would have expected but this was probably aimed at the general reader & of no real interest to anyone with a knowledge of horse racing.....in my opinion. Finally there was nothing here about the money earned. This is in line with all the other jockey biographies. For some reason Jockeys won't mention what they earn. I'm not sure why as they deserve every penny given every time they go out they may not come back in one piece & they know 100% that throughout their career they are going to have some serious injuries which will most likely be with them in some form for the rest of their lives. Overall I "kind of" enjoyed it but was expecting more.

[Helen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good story would have more appeal for racing fraternity

[Michael Ward · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars, not overly interesting. I listened to the audiobook over a couple of days. Might never have finished if reading it.