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Mince Pie for Starters

  • Author
    • John Oaksey
Format
Regular price £9.99
Regular price Sale price £9.99
John Oaksey has seen it all in racing, as a jockey, commentator and newspaper reporter. After a lifetime devoted to the sport he recalls the splendid characters, horses and races that have made horseracing the great passion of his life, a passion that he is so brilliantly able to convey to others. One of the most respected and loved people in the sport, partly due to his work with the Injured Jockeys' Fund, John Oaksey has a fund of fascinating and hilarious stories to tell. This book is not just a wonderful self-portrait, it is also a definitive account of racing since the war.
  • Published: Sep 06 2004
  • Pages: 288
  • 197 x 128mm
  • ISBN: 9780755310678
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Press Reviews

  • J.A.McGrath, Daily Telegraph
    Fantastic news for anyone who has even a passing interest in horses and horseracing ... [a] very enjoyable book
  • Chris Goulding, Sunday Express
    Hilarious anecdotes ... Oaksey is a gripping storyteller. Not only is this one of the best racing books that has ever been written but it also reveals an honest and generous character
  • Stoker Hartington, Spectator
    John Oaksey is the archetypal English gentleman. He is a sweetheart, a star, the bravest of the brave, funny and kind...I loved this charming book: old fashioned the standards may be, modest to an almost ridiculous degree the style, but shining through it all is a man in love with life, with sport, tradition and competition. How lucky the sport of racing has been to have him as its leading writer and advocate for so many years
  • Country Life
    [a] delightful and often hilarious autobiography...splendid memoir
  • Chris McGrath, The Times
    The imperative read for racing fans this Christmas
  • Ian Wooldridge, Daily Mail
    One of the most remarkable feats of sportswriting I have witnessed was by a mud-splattered jockey who had just been narrowly beaten in the 1963 Grand National. Within minutes he was crouched in a noisy, sweltering, overcrowded Press room penning 1,200 words on the emotions of losing in the last few yards to a 66-1 outsider, Ayala, to catch the first edition of a Sunday newspaper. If I have ever seen ultimate professionalism that was it