Flawed though fun book

[46zilzal]

All Hat by Brad Smith, soon to be made into a movie, is a fun romp in the world of horse racing. A novice might miss some of the outright misconceptions the writer has, but a fun one just the same.

[Tom Barrister]

What did you find was misconceived? I thought that it was a very well-written book, with good character development and a decent storyline.

[JustRalph]

All Hat by Brad Smith, soon to be made into a movie, is a fun romp in the world of horse racing. A novice might miss some of the outright misconceptions the writer has, but a fun one just the same.

So you found somebody else who isn't as smart as you.............what are the odds?


Serenity now!!!

[46zilzal]

First a 100K claiming stakes at Fort Erie? Never in over 15 years of following that course.

Next a chestnut nine year old gelding is entered into a stakes race. The last race this one was vanned off (10K claimer) as he broke a leg. He is entered with morning line 100/1. The protagonists have a stolen 4 year old stakes horse (brown) which they dye to look like a chestnut. We are to believe that after the horse identifier checks the lip tattoo, they switch the old gelding for the 4 y/o colt and win the race without ANYONE batting an eye? To make sure they did not check the ringer post race, the rider put a small piece of metal in chewing gum into the frog of the stakes colt to make him limp....and of course NONE of the vets came to check it out. How could anyone switch a nine old gelding for a 4 y/o colt and get away with it between the paddock and the track? Preposterous.

I like good stories but no one who knows racing could accept that a ringer with those credentials and that sloppy a way of switching could away with it.

[Tom]

We had a ringer case at FL in the late 70's. Guy entered a stakes horse in a cheap claimer in the super race. Horse won easy, big odds, big super. Only fly in the ointment was it got claimed for 5K! :lol:

[banacek]

The protagonists have a stolen 4 year old stakes horse (brown) which they dye to look like a chestnut. We are to believe that after the horse identifier checks the lip tattoo, they switch the old gelding for the 4 y/o colt and win the race without ANYONE batting an eye?

See Banacek - Season 2 - "Horse of a Different Color"

"How can a valuable, highly recognizable thoroughbred horse start a practice run around an open racetrack and be an unknown nag when it reaches the finish line? Bet on Banacek to solve the puzzle before the horse thieves make tracks with the real article."

[46zilzal]

"How can a valuable, highly recognizable thoroughbred horse start a practice run around an open racetrack and be an unknown nag when it reaches the finish line? Bet on Banacek to solve the puzzle before the horse thieves make tracks with the real article."
Both fun, but both fiction.