Exterminator: Thoroughbred Legends

Thoroughbred Legends #18

by Eva Jolene Boyd

Exterminator captures the public's imagination from the start. The rangy gelding went from work horse to Kentucky Derby winner to durable campaigner during his eight years on the track.

Genres: Horses, Horse Racing

176 pages, Hardcover

First published October 25, 2002

Reviews

[Jay French · Rating 4 out of 5]

I believe Exterminator was the earliest subject of a book in the Thoroughbred Legends series. Because of that, this book is quite different than the others. The times were different, and horse racing was a different kind of game than it became a few years later. In addition, as a gelding, there wasn’t the progeny to write about, which tends to consume a large portion of most of these books. This book makes up for that lack in spades, though, as the horse had (was it) 10 trainers, and raced in 100 (or 99) races. The horse also had an interesting owner who made his money on Swamp Root patent medicine, and who had some interesting practices. His constant fighting with Exterminator’s trainers reminded me of George Steinbrenner. I was surprised after completing the book and reviewing the horse’s record that he had as many wins as he had. These books focus on wins generally, but in this one, the non-wins seemed more plentiful and well written. I guess when you win 50 races it gets to be kind of common. This book really had an interesting lead character with the owner, and I found it entertaining. I liked the author’s book on Native Dancer in the Thoroughbred Legends series, and I look forward to reading author Boyd’s other book in the series about Assault.

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I was growing up, one of my most cherished books was Mildred Mastin Pace's Old Bones the Wonder Horse. It was the charming fictional biography of the American thoroughbred Exterminator who was better known as Old Bones because he was always skinny no matter how much he ate. Here he is:



So, decades later when I saw a proper biography had been written of Exterminator I jumped to buy it. In some ways I regret doing so since I could see where Mildred Mastin Pace had to clean up Exterminator's story for youngsters. It also does not have any kick-ass illustrations by Wesley Dennis. However, it is a very thorough look at the career of a very special thoroughbred.

Also included is just why Exterminator never raced against contemporary Man o' War and some info on his retired life sharing his stall and pensioner pasture with a succession of Shetland ponies named Peanuts.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had always heard about 'Old Bones', but never really knew anything about him. It's hard to feel affectionate toward someone or something you're not all that familiar with, usually.

This book was the start I needed to jump on the Exterminator bandwagon. What a horse!

Really, the only thing that kept this book from a five-star rating was that I didn't care for Exterminator's owner, and lost interest in hearing about him long before the author lost interest in talking about him. But I suppose that was a necessary evil.

A good read and a great horse. I highly recommend.

[Marjorie]

I like these books, (there is a series of Thoroughbred legends), for the history of the times and the characters involved with these wonderful horses. The horse named Exterminator raced until he was 9 years, unheard of today. He raced from 1917 to 1924. Had he not been a gelding he likely would not have raced to that age. This was a horse with as much heart as speed. The Thoroughbred was developed over many decades for speed and stamina. Exterminator excelled in both categories.