The Horse God Built: The Untold Story of Secretariat, the World's Greatest Racehorse

by Lawrence Scanlan

Book Overview

The Horse God Built tells the amazing and heartwarming story of a Secretariat and the man who knew him best.

Most of us know the legend of Secretariat, the tall, handsome chestnut racehorse whose string of honors runs long and rich: the only two-year-old ever to win Horse of the Year, in 1972; winner in 1973 of the Triple Crown, his times in all three races still unsurpassed; featured on the cover of Time, Newsweek, ...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312382251
• ISBN13: 9780312382254
• Release Date: June 2008
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• Length: 352 Pages
• Weight: 0.96 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 5.4" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

The title says it all.

Beautifully written. You feel like you are in the room, on the track,in the stall. Get a comfy chair and sit back and enjoy.

The love between a racehorse and his groom

Many books have been written about the great Secretariat, a legend among racehorses, a creature many consider the best or second-best horse in the world. They say he had the Look of the Eagles. They say he was kind, but temperamental. Above all, they say he had a giant heart, one that never quit no matter his circumstance (upon his death it would be revealed that literally his heart was larger than most). He mostly won his races, which made his losses that much more stunning to his loyal followers. His story has been told countless times, and so in The Horse God Built the author approaches the saga of Secretariat from a different angle, that of his relationship to his groom, the legendary Eddie Sweat. In trying to get to the bottom of the love between racehorse and groom, a position oft ignored by those who don't KNOW how important role this one person plays in the life of a horse athlete, the author interviews bystanders, acquaintances, and friends. He seeks to understand why the horse loved Eddie Sweat, and more importantly if this one horse truly left such an indelible mark on his groom that Sweat could never recapture that magic, and was never truly whole again. Scanlan wants to understand Sweat as well as he does Secretariat, and even more importantly to understand that bond between man and horse - what forged it, what became of it, and ultimately what impact it had on the rest of their lives, both man and horse. Scanlan does a decent job of this, digging into the little moments that were witnessed by countless jockeys, trainers, exercise boys, other grooms, and even Eddie's own family members. He dissects pictures of Eddie and Secretariat, and then questions his findings to peel back all the layers of this complicated question. He crisscrosses the country in search of eye-witnesses, and he charms his way into many of these conversations by name dropping. The name? Not Penny Chenery or even Lucien Laurin, but Eddie Sweat. The grooms name opens many doors, and loosens many lips. The result is that the author lays bare the true worth of a groom and his or her deep connection to their charge. It's a fascinating portrait of a horse and his groom, and an interesting study in the bond that forms when an animal can completely trust a human.

A great read and a tear jerker

Who hasn't heard of Secretariat? Who has heard of Eddie Sweat? A wonderfully researched tale about one of the greatest love stories never told. Mr Scanlon takes us on his travels around the country to the places where these two great beings walked, lived and died. Eddie, a man from extremely humble beginnings and Secretariat, the horse from nobility who raced into immortality during the early 1970's. Eddie Sweat is the groom who helped make Secretariat the horse he became. Eddie Sweat lets us know just how important the job of groom is on the backstretch yet how overlooked. We know the names of the owners, trainers, jockeys or famous racehorses. If you subscribe to HRTV you may know the names of their exercise riders. But the grooms are almost never mentioned dispite the fact that it is they who can alert the trainer of discomfort in their charges. If Laurin listened to the exercise rider, Gaffy, would Secretariat have lost the Wood Memorial? Would Secretariat have lost the Whitney if the trainer Laurin had acknowledged the ulcer in the horses mouth and scratched him? My heart breaks when Eddie has to take Secretariat to his new home, Claiborne Farm, for stud duty. The horse wants him to stay with him, Riva Ridge wants him to be his groom again, the Farm wants to hire him yet to move your family from New York City in the mid 1970's to Lexington Kentucky seems too much for Eddie to ask. This is a time before cell phones when long distance phones call where really expensive. It would have been a huge change for his family so Eddie remained in New York. It has been months since I read this but I do know it made my knowledge of the backstretch so much deeper besides that of the great horse. I give it 5 stars.

A Story That Had To Be Told

Lawrence Scanlan approaches the life & times of Secretariat and covers a wealth of angles in an industry that has yet to live up to the legendary accomplishments of this iconic champion. From the shooting-star fame of Big Red's groom, Eddie Sweat, the final minutes in the life of the champion - who apparently was treated like a pauper and not comforted like a king - to the destruction through neglect of the farm that was Secretariat's home and the plight of the runners who never perform at the highest levels of the sport, Scanlan covers much turf, but does it with style and class. There are more straight-forward biographies of Secretariat, but none roar down the stretch to bring the legend to life - and uncover the missed potential in "The Sport of Kings" - the way Scanlan's poignant reporting and timely tackling of current issues ultimately accomplishes through several strong surges to the wire, many lengths in front of the pack.

Secretariat

AMAZING Book!!!! I would recommend it to anyone that wants to read about Secretariat! The bond between Eddie and Secretariat is so touching and real! So far best book I have read about a famous horses life, very real!!!

The Horse God Built

I would recommend this book to any horse lover or Secretariat enthusiast. My interest in this subject is relatively new. I learned quite a bit from reading this book. Horse racing often seems cold hearted. I enjoyed reading about the relationship between Eddie and Secretariat.