Rambling Willie: The Horse that God Love

by Donald P. Evans, Philip Pikelny

Genres: Horse Racing

207 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1981

Reviews

[Lea Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love, love, love this book! I was at the Kentucky Horse Park in 1988 and got to meet Rambling Willie and hear about his story. He was residing at the Horse Park in the Hall of Champions. What a beautiful horse and an inspiring story. While in the gift shop, I saw the Park was selling the book and purchased it. I read this book every few years and always am so warmed and touched by it. Vivian Farrington, one of Willie's owner's, has a deep faith that carried her through all the trials that happened not only to Willie but her husband. The story is inspiring just based on Willie and how long he raced and earned for his owner's but the background of faith adds to the book.

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best book on harness racing ever. However, I highly doubt that if God exists, He's play the ponies. I used to have a first edition of this and sold it for a pretty penny after I worked at a harness racing stable and discovered how cruel the industry is. Rambling Willie was lucky.

[Jay French · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found a copy of this book, “Rambling Willie: The Horse that God Loved”, at a used bookstore. I’ve read 30 or so books about racehorses, but hadn’t read one about a Standardbred, outside of the Dan Patch book that took place 100 years ago. This was a book of recent vintage (only 40 years ago!) covering a horse of that time. Another thing going for it was the connection to where I live, Chicago. Much of the action took place at Chicago tracks, in my quick perusal at the store. But the biggest surprise was finding the book was “autographed” by, at least I suspect, Rambling Willie himself. There’s a big inked horseshoe on the inner flyleaf, and you can see that it was made with a lot of weight behind it, as the horseshoe indented the sheets below like an embosser. Also signing the book, inside the horseshoe, were Vivian and Robert Farrington. Vivian, Bob’s wife, was half owner of the horse, and Bob was the trainer and driver. These three weren't the authors of the book, but they were the authors of the story.

Ends up this is a story of record breakers and faith. Rambling Willie holds or held a number of records for fast wins, longevity at the track, and money earned, and Bob Farrington holds records as a driver and with his family’s stable as owners and trainers. Vivian represents faith here, as she tithed her earnings to her father’s church, and believed in healing of injured horses and husbands through prayer. I came to see this book was less about the horse, who doesn’t really take on a personality here, and more about the comparison of Vivian’s faith in religion and her husbands belief in himself. It provides quite a bit to think about, and this was much more than I was expecting with a race horse book. I enjoyed the trip, but wanted a bit more about how the horse lived as his racing days were fading.

[Janice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book, Very well written!