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Thoroughbred #66
Samantha's Irish Luck
This 13 year old equestrian series is still running strong with the publication of it's 66th title!
Samantha is in love and has finally found the perfect horse. But is her luck about to run out?
Samantha and Tor's month–long honeymoon in Ireland turns into a much longer stay when Samantha meets Finn, a massive sporthorse that is a descendant of Red Rum, steeplechasing's greatest horse. Samantha is enjoying such success with Finn that she and Tor settle into the idea that they'll be in Ireland for the rest of their lives.
Then Tor gets an urgent call to return home to Kentucky. With the Grand National just weeks away, Tor urges Samantha to stay in Ireland but she still finds herself torn between her husband and her beloved horse. If only she didn't have such a nagging feeling about leaving Finn behind. She's sure something horrible is about to happen.
176 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2004
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August 7, 2024I was trying to think of what the absolute worst book in the Thoroughbred series is. I mean, there are so many to choose from. Could it be when Ashleigh was in a coma and had a wonky dream? Could it be when the series jumped forward ten years with zero explanation?
No, it's this book. It's so bad that everyone involved with it should be heavily fined and put in jail unless they can pay back everybody that got suckered into buying this garbage, especially author Mary Newhall Anderson. She not only didn't bother to read the previous books in the series, she also wrote a book about steeplechasing without knowing f-all about steeplechasing. Lazy, lazy work, ya feckin' eejit.
And no one stopped her or corrected her. That's the real mind-blowing aspect. The publishers were so convinced that people would blindly buy anything in the Thoroughbred series that they published exactly that -- anything.
Red Rum is mentioned here many times as being the sire or grandsire of the main horse in this book, Finn.
One problem -- Red Rum was a gelding.
Red Rum was also the most famous racehorse in the UK for the latter half of the 20th century. It was NOT HARD to find out he was a gelding if you took the five seconds to check out his race record in the Grand National, Mary.
Finn goes to the Badminton Horse Trials when he is about two years old. The minimum age allowed for horses to compete is seven.
Finn then makes the staggering transition from eventer to steeplechaser. It's usually the other way around, Mary, because eventing is just too hard on an immature horse's bones. Finn runs in the Grand National when he is about three years old. There is also a minimum age requirement for all Grand National horses -- since 2011, the minimum was seven, but when this was written in 2004, horses had to be at least five. Colts and stallions do not run in the Grand National because the race is notoriously dangerous. Mares even rarely run. It's usually a gelding only race.
Again, NOT HARD to look up.
Then, Samantha decides to skip riding Finn in the Grand National because Tor's father is sick. AND THE TRAINER DOESN'T ARGUE. This does not happen. The Grand National is bigger than the Kentucky Derby in UK horse racing. It is the epitome of the sport. It makes or breaks careers. Most people in the sport never get a horse good enough to go in the Grand National. You have to be DEAD to refuse a ride at the last minute on one of the favorites in the Grand National.
There are dozens of more realistic, legitimate reasons why a jockey would cancel a last-minute ride on the most coveted race in the sport, such as:
* Falling into a coma
* Injury from a ride
* Having the National canceled due to a bomb threat-- and this REALLY HAPPENED, MARY.
Geez, if even I could come up with a better plot, then this book is really abysmal. No stars for this muck.
No wonder Joanna Campbell doesn't like your work, Mary. She said in an online interview that she only liked ONE of the ghostwriters, and the name she mentioned sure as shit wasn't yours, Mary.
No, it's this book. It's so bad that everyone involved with it should be heavily fined and put in jail unless they can pay back everybody that got suckered into buying this garbage, especially author Mary Newhall Anderson. She not only didn't bother to read the previous books in the series, she also wrote a book about steeplechasing without knowing f-all about steeplechasing. Lazy, lazy work, ya feckin' eejit.
And no one stopped her or corrected her. That's the real mind-blowing aspect. The publishers were so convinced that people would blindly buy anything in the Thoroughbred series that they published exactly that -- anything.
Red Rum is mentioned here many times as being the sire or grandsire of the main horse in this book, Finn.
One problem -- Red Rum was a gelding.
Red Rum was also the most famous racehorse in the UK for the latter half of the 20th century. It was NOT HARD to find out he was a gelding if you took the five seconds to check out his race record in the Grand National, Mary.
Finn goes to the Badminton Horse Trials when he is about two years old. The minimum age allowed for horses to compete is seven.
Finn then makes the staggering transition from eventer to steeplechaser. It's usually the other way around, Mary, because eventing is just too hard on an immature horse's bones. Finn runs in the Grand National when he is about three years old. There is also a minimum age requirement for all Grand National horses -- since 2011, the minimum was seven, but when this was written in 2004, horses had to be at least five. Colts and stallions do not run in the Grand National because the race is notoriously dangerous. Mares even rarely run. It's usually a gelding only race.
Again, NOT HARD to look up.
Then, Samantha decides to skip riding Finn in the Grand National because Tor's father is sick. AND THE TRAINER DOESN'T ARGUE. This does not happen. The Grand National is bigger than the Kentucky Derby in UK horse racing. It is the epitome of the sport. It makes or breaks careers. Most people in the sport never get a horse good enough to go in the Grand National. You have to be DEAD to refuse a ride at the last minute on one of the favorites in the Grand National.
There are dozens of more realistic, legitimate reasons why a jockey would cancel a last-minute ride on the most coveted race in the sport, such as:
* Falling into a coma
* Injury from a ride
* Having the National canceled due to a bomb threat-- and this REALLY HAPPENED, MARY.
Geez, if even I could come up with a better plot, then this book is really abysmal. No stars for this muck.
No wonder Joanna Campbell doesn't like your work, Mary. She said in an online interview that she only liked ONE of the ghostwriters, and the name she mentioned sure as shit wasn't yours, Mary.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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