The Wrong Horse: An Odyssey Through the American Racing Scene

by William Murray

The highest gambling wisdom is knowing when to quit. El Lobo, however, had scrambled my brains. I was like a man panning for gold in a riverbed who's just found a big nugget and some ass comes along, waving his arms and shouting that the dam upstream is about to burst. Do you get out of the river? Of course not.
William Murray is a man of letters and a horseplayer. As a regular writer for both The New Yorker and the Daily Racing Form, he is a connoisseur of the bon mot and the sweet two-year-old filly that can go long - and both are plentifully evident in this delightful new book.
The Wrong Horse is equal parts memoir and Here is a portrait of an obsession and of the peculiar world of American Thoroughbred racing, with its unique social mores and colorful characters. Murray, who has been a bettor and an owner, a winner and a loser, at tracks all over America, explores the racing game with the understanding of a savvy insider and the slightly rueful wit of a man who knows it's impossible to find either satisfaction or riches there. But, as one character says, "There's always fresh." That passion for the ponies also runs throughout these pages.
While no sure-fire betting formulas are proffered here, no racetrack regular will fail to profit from this up-close look at who won and how they did it, and who lost and how they accomplished that.
From the betting window to the backside, here are entertaining and spirited stories of trainers and horses, tracks from the upstarts of California to the blue bloods of the East, jockeys who can pull magic from mediocre mounts, the mixed blessing of being in Louisville during the Kentucky Derby, and the smug calm of holding the winning ticket at thirty to one.
The Wrong Horse is William Murray's homage to an oval-shaped path of turf that is sometimes hard and fast. But only sometimes.

Genres: Horse Racing, Sports

224 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1992

About the author

William Murray was an American fiction editor and staff writer at The New Yorker for more than thirty years. He wrote a series of mystery novels set in the world of horse racing, many featuring Shifty Lou Anderson, a professional magician and horseplayer. Among his many contributions to The New Yorker was the magazine's "Letters from Italy" of which he was the sole author. The majority of his later years were spent living in Del Mar, California, "exactly 3.2 miles from the finish line" of Del Mar Thoroughbred Club. Murray died in March 2005 at age 78. Just prior to his death, Murray had completed a book about Chicago's Lyric Opera Center for American Artists.

Reviews

[Debbie Zapata · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dec 27, 630pm ~~ Review asap.

740pm ~~ This was my first book by William Murray, but it will not be my last. I know this because i ordered three more from Thriftbooks before I reached the halfway point of The Wrong Horse. So it is safe to say that I very much enjoyed these racetrack essays.

Murray writes about life around a race track, telling the reader what he has learned about betting on the horses, the people he has met while at the track, his own adventures co-owning race horses, a few sketches of famous jockeys and trainers.

I was fascinated from starting gate to finish line.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Essays on the writer's life and experiences with thoroughbred race-horse owning and betting. Quite enjoyable.

[Frances · Rating 4 out of 5]

Horse racing as told by a reporter, investor, better, and owner. Filled with characters and wit.

[R Fontaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of two nonfiction books (The other -The Right Horse) written by William Murray which revolves around the horse racing life and his fascination and lifelong love of the track and the hard knockers, touts,characters and betting addicts who year after year show up in what could be a traveling cadre from Santa Anita to Del Mar ‘for the season’.
While he loves horse racing, he is not blinded by the very difficult lives and losses more than wins of the ‘sport of kings’.

[MJ Schudlick · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great collection of essays by a great writer about the business I have been in all of my adult life, as a groom, assistant trainer, trainer, owner, van driver and many other endeavors.

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe you should be a racing fan already (which I am) to appreciate this book but it is a fun read. A friend of mine has the author's book titled The Right Horse ( naturally) and can't wait to read that too. The characters, their situations and the hint of another era all make for a wonderful journey into the world of handicapping thoroughbred racing.