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Title details for Out of the Clouds by Linda Carroll - Wait list

Out of the Clouds

The Unlikely Horseman and the Unwanted Colt Who Conquered the Sport of Kings

by Linda Carroll
David Rosner
Audiobook
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In the bestselling tradition ofthe The Eighty-Dollar Champion, the propulsive, inspiring Cinderella story of Stymie, an unwanted Thoroughbred, and Hirsch Jacobs, the once dirt-poor trainer who bought the colt on the cheap and molded him into the most popular horse of his time and the richest racehorse the world had ever seen.
In the wake of World War II, as turmoil and chaos were giving way to a spirit of optimism, Americans were looking for inspiration and role models showing that it was possible to start from the bottom and work your way up to the top-and they found it in Stymie, the failed racehorse plucked from the discard heap by trainer Hirsch Jacobs. Like Stymie, Jacobs was a commoner in "The Sport of Kings," a dirt-poor Brooklyn city slicker who forged an unlikely career as racing's winningest trainer by buying cheap, unsound nags and magically transforming them into winners. The $1,500 pittance Jacobs paid to claim Stymie became history's biggest bargain as the ultimate iron horse went on to run a whopping 131 races and win 25 stakes, becoming the first Thoroughbred ever to earn more than $900,000. The Cinderella champion nicknamed "The People's Horse" captivated the masses with his rousing charge-from-behind stretch runs, his gritty blue-collar work ethic, and his rags-to-riches success story. In a golden age when horse racing rivaled baseball and boxing as America's most popular pastime, he was every bit as inspiring a sports hero as Joe DiMaggio and Joe Louis.
Taking readers on a crowd-pleasing ride with Stymie and Jacobs, Out of the Clouds — the winner of the Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award — unwinds a real-life Horatio Alger tale of a dauntless team and its working-class fans who lived vicariously through the stouthearted little colt they embraced as their own.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    May 29, 2018

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781549168468
      • File size: 314627 KB
      • Duration: 10:55:28

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • AudioFile Magazine
      This audiobook proves that everyone loves an underdog--or, in this case, an "underhorse." The story is more than a one-trick pony; it also highlights the history of horse racing in the 1930s and 1940s. Narrator Kevin Collins's delivery is an excellent complement to the narrative, particularly his natural-sounding surprise at the success of trainer Hirsch Jacobs. A pigeon racer turned horse trainer, with no racing background, he consistently spotted winning race horses among the sport's perceived dregs. Jacobs's greatest success was Stymie, a thoroughbred he claimed for $1,500 and transformed into the most winning horse ever. Collins's low-key style is particularly effective at presenting the many personalities of the era who helped make the sport of horse racing so popular. D.J.S. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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