Horse Racing Quotes

“But what truly horsey girls discover in the end is that boyfriends, husbands, children, and careers are the substitute-for horses”
― Jane Smiley, A Year at the Races: Reflections on Horses, Humans, Love, Money, and Luck

“The animal bounded down the dock in huge strides.”
― Paul A. Barra, Strangers and Sojourners: A Big Percy Pletcher thriller

“That sounds like Russian interference to me.” “Agreed.”
They sat sipping their drinks.
“Should we even be drinking vodka?”
― Paul A. Barra, Strangers and Sojourners: A Big Percy Pletcher thriller

“The big Hatteras roared south, ducking in to come up under Montauk. He slowed her after dark and cruised the Atlantic coast of Long Island westward into Brooklyn on autopilot.”
― Paul A. Barra, Strangers and Sojourners: A Big Percy Pletcher thriller

“What with one thing and another, I can't remember ever having been chirpier than at about this period in my career. Everything seemed to be going right. On three separate occasions horses on which I'd invested a sizeable amount won by lengths instead of sitting down to rest in the middle of the race, as horses usually do when I've got money on them. ~ Bertram "Bertie" Wooster - The Inimitable Jeeves”
― P.G. Wodehouse, The Inimitable Jeeves

“If I've learned anything over the years, it's that horses do listen to you. They may not have a clue what you're saying, but they know the tone in which you say it. I'll sing to horses so hooked on their own nerves they're ready to climb into the sky, and sometimes it's one of the only things that keep them on the ground.”
― Mara Dabrishus, Stay the Distance

“The weather was clear, the track fast
War Admiral broke first and finished last.”
― Laura Hillenbrand, Seabiscuit: An American Legend

“... the little horse had drawn more newspaper coverage in 1938 than Roosevelt, who was second, Hitler (third), Mussolini (fourth), or any other newsmaker. His match with War Admiral was almost certainly the single biggest news story of the year and one of the biggest sports moments of the century.”
― Laura Hillenbrand, Seabiscuit: An American Legend

“To pilot a racehorse is to ride a half-ton catapult. It is without question one of the most formidable feats in sport.”
― Laura Hillenbrand, Seabiscuit: An American Legend

“Nothing is permanent, I tell myself over and over. Especially not a horse.”
― Mara Dabrishus, Stay the Distance

“The whole country is divided into two camps," wrote Dave Boone in the San Francisco Chronicle. "People who never saw a horse race in their lives are taking sides. If the issue were deferred another week, there would be a civil war between the War Admiral Americans and the Seabiscuit Americans.”
― Laura Hillenbrand, Seabiscuit: An American Legend

“Perhaps if I had said to myself, at any moment in the race, I am being competitive. I want to win and I care, I might’ve begun to find the whole competition boring. My competitiveness was like a kite I was refusing to pull down from the sky and examine. I think this increased its power over me. I rode with a mysterious compulsion, not knowing where it came from.”
― Lara Prior-Palmer, Rough Magic: Riding the World's Loneliest Horse Race

“A horseman of the old school, a gentleman who never forgot to dip down and stake you when he win. He was more ashamed to be stingy than to be broke, so as long as he had two dollars you had one . . .”
― Jaimy Gordon, Lord of Misrule

“No matter what, my chest always tightens up before a race. A rush of adrenaline spikes all the way down my spine, and it's like I'm right there. Right on top of Kali, squeezed in that metal stall, looking out at the dirt with my heart in my throat. The starter opens the gates, and the bell rings.”
― Mara Dabrishus, Stay the Distance

“Kali has a habit of doing these beautiful works that never translate during the races in the afternoon. They call animals like her morning glories, or horrendous bets. Take your pick.”
― Mara Dabrishus, Stay the Distance

“When the striped pole slips by I slide low in the saddle and give Kali room to go. One moment she's bottled up, and the next she's a stream of copper, her chestnut mane smacking me hard in the face while her strides lengthen and everything becomes a droning rumble of hooves and wind.”
― Mara Dabrishus, Stay the Distance

“Vacations in my family are rare events squeezed between races. I can count them on one hand, and even those amount to only a few hours each. Shopping in Los Angeles. Sinking my toes into snow white sand in Florida. They are tiny slips of memory strung around horses.”
― Mara Dabrishus, Stay the Distance

“When a horse and a jockey flew over the track together, there were moments in which the man's mind wedded itself to the animal's body to form something greater than the sum of both parts. The horse partook of the jockey's cunning, the jockey partook of the horse's supreme power. For the jockey the saddle was a place of unparalleled exhilaration, of transcendence.”
― Laura Hillenbrand, Seabiscuit: An American Legend

“I'm bouncing up and down next to Beck, and his arm is around my waist because it's second nature to reach out and grab something during a race. To grab it and hold on, or shake it, or just feel that it's there and you can steady yourself against it to bring yourself back to earth when the race is done.”
― Mara Dabrishus, Stay the Distance

“I live in a mobile home, and I drive a pickup truck, but I got a helluva horse.”
― Dan Mearns, Seattle Slew: Racing's Only Undefeated Triple Crown Winner

“There are great people in life who give you inspiration to keep going and get through the hard times. I have been blessed to have such role models in my life. It would be a privilege if achieving my dream could inspire the next generation.”
― Michelle Payne, Life As I Know It

“You've the beat
of a dancer to a measure or harmonious rush
of a porpoise at the prow where the racers all win easily—
like centaurs' legs in tune, as when kettledrums compete;
nose rigid and suede nostrils spread, a light left hand on the
rein, till
well—this is a rhapsody.”
― Marianne Moore, Complete Poems

“Secretariat has just tied the world record for nine furlongs. He is running now as if in contempt of the clock. Those watching him begin to comprehend the magnitude of the effort. He is moving beyond the standard by which the running horse has been traditionally judged, not tiring, not leg weary, not backing up a stroke, dimensionless in scope, and all the time Turcotte asking nothing of him.”
― William Nack

“[Charles] Hatton had no way of knowing it then as he sat on the bench, but there was a young racehorse turning the corner of the racetrack--perhaps 150 yards away--who would fulfill some ideal that he had been turning over in his head since Billy Walker put it there more than fifty years ago.
Secretariat walked down the pathway toward the paddock, toward the towering canopy of trees above the saddling area, toward Hatton, who saw the colt and came to his feet. The red horse filled Hatton's eyes of an instant, not striding into his field of vision but swimming into it, pulling Hatton from the bench to a standstill before him.
Hatton had seen thousands of horses in his life, thousands of two-year-olds, and suddenly on this July afternoon of 1972 he found the 106-carat diamond: "It was like seeing a bunch of gravel and there was the Kohinoor lying in there. It was so unexpected. I thought, 'Jesus Christ, I never saw a horse that looked like that before.”
― William Nack, Secretariat: The Making of a Champion

“Sweaty, bruised and grazed, we stood by the open gateway of a half-acre paddock and watched the truck taking the colt to his destiny. I don’t recall what kind of day it was, only the miserable feeling of having failed after trying our best. We didn’t know it then, but it was to be a recurring theme in the not-too-distant future.”
― David Scott, Stargazer

“Horse Racing in Durban from Seawater Three
Durban, South Africa was the end of the line for us. We usually did not know how far up the East Coast we would go, since it always depended on our cargo. On the African Enterprise it was different and instead we depended on the passengers. Most of the time the last of the passengers were off the ship before we got to Durban but that was not always a given.
I loved Durban where the food was wonderful, and the girls were fun. Kerstin was no exception and was always ready to have a good time. The racetrack was one of the places that we would go to and where, with a little inside information, I would know how to place my bets. When I asked Kerstin why she wasn’t cleaning up at the track she simply said that it was not a sure thing. It was for the same reason that I usually just placed conservative bets, but my returns were still enough to pay for my food, drinks, and ample pocket money.
I still do not know why Tiger Wright a “once-was” jockey shared his valuable information with me, but he did it in a coded way. He never just blurted out what he knew, rather he would say things like “If it was me, I would consider…., or I would never place a bet on a horse called ….” Only once did he say that a certain horse was sure to win; and it did! Perhaps he liked me or perhaps he was just bragging but I know that he liked my company. He also definitely loved the company of the beautiful ladies that surrounded him. I knew that he liked Kerstin, but for whatever reason, she did not play his game.”
― Captain Hank Bracker, "Seawater Three"

“Racetracks seem to reward innocence. If babies were permitted to wager, they'd ultimately win so much money that management everywhere would bar them. NO BABIES ALLOWED, says a big sign at Hialeah. At Belmont Park, it reads, BEAT IT, BABIES.”
― Bill Barich, Traveling Light: A Year of Wandering, from California to England and Tuscany and Back Again

“There are just too many interesting owners and stories to tell to get into them here.”
― Donna Barton Brothers, Inside Track: Insider's Guide to Horse Racing

“We've made our mistakes, he admitted, "but we're young. The first time you make a mistake, you're wrong. The second time you're stupid.”
― Dan Mearns, Seattle Slew: Racing's Only Undefeated Triple Crown Winner

“Not leg weary as any other horse would have been, the gallant gray trotted full-flight down to the wire. Each powerful stride as strong and long as the one before it. He devoured the track one magnificent stroke after another, then flashed under the wire, pulling the roar of the crowd along in his wake.”
― Cheryl L. Eriksen, Greyhound: The Remarkable Story of the Harness-Racing Horse Who Inspired a Nation