Get Your Free Audiobook
American Pharoah
Non-member price: $43.02
Publisher's Summary
History was made at the 2015 Belmont Stakes when American Pharoah won the Triple Crown, the first since Affirmed in 1978. As magnificent as the champion is, the team behind him has been all too human while on the road to immortality.
Written by an award-winning The New York Times sportswriter, American Pharoah is the definitive account not only of how the ethereal colt won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont Stakes, but how he changed lives.
Through extensive interviews, Drape explores the making of an exceptional racehorse, chronicling key events en route to history. Covering everything from the flamboyant owner's successful track record, the jockey's earlier heartbreaking losses, and the Hall of Fame trainer's intensity, Drape paints a stirring portrait of a horse for the ages and the people around him.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying reference material will be available in your My Library section along with the audio.
More from the same
What members say
Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall1 out of 5 stars
-
Performance1 out of 5 stars
-
Story1 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 14-05-2018
Glad I didn't buy it, free download
Kept hoping the story would be remarkable about horse, people, but boring, long, no spark,
18 people found this helpful
-
Overall1 out of 5 stars
-
Performance3 out of 5 stars
-
Story1 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 14-05-2018
Baffert hagiography
If you want to listen to a poorly written hagiography of Bob Baffert and his perfect family, this is your book.
14 people found this helpful
-
Overall1 out of 5 stars
-
Performance1 out of 5 stars
-
Story1 out of 5 stars
- Carolyn
- 14-05-2018
Waste of time
This is one of the worst books I’ve had the displeasure of listening to. I made it through 3 chapters. The writing implies that the reader has the intellect of a toddler. The performer also puts emphasis in strange places. Not a fan.
9 people found this helpful
-
Overall2 out of 5 stars
-
Performance2 out of 5 stars
-
Story1 out of 5 stars
- Patroo
- 09-05-2018
This wasn't to my taste
The reading itself was done well, but I quickly got fed up with the cutesy storyline and the tendency to make everything like a children's storybook. It did everything but say "when a mommy horse and a daddy horse love each other very much." I've read many great horse biographies over the years, and C.W. Anderson never once felt the need to get syrupy about his subjects. Other writers have been able to do a good job writing about competitive horses, but this one just didn't appeal to me.
Within three chapters, I'd had enough.
If you have worked with horses, are familiar with the horse industry as a whole and the racing industry specifically, this book may not be for you. If your sole contact with horses has been seeing them on TV and the occasional police and carriage horse, this will give you the depth of explanation that helps you understand how racers are bred, raised, trained, and competed.
I couldn't stand "War Horse" either. Want a good story? "Eighty Dollar Champion" tells it right. Yeah, I know it's not about a race horse. "Funny Cide" was an excellent book, made so by the antics of the owners. You don't have to settle for this.
39 people found this helpful
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Ellen
- 17-05-2018
review
narrator not the greatest..no " Passion to his performance.. he seemed forced... took away from the book
8 people found this helpful
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- Ed
- 17-05-2018
good but too much fluff.
too much filler to add length. sometimes got boring with extraneous details & hard to stay focused.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall5 out of 5 stars
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars
-
Story5 out of 5 stars
- Melanie V. Simon
- 14-05-2018
In-depth look at horse racing
The author effectively uses the story of one horse to provide a comprehensive list at the many players in the thoroughbred horse industry. Enjoyed learning how much dedication and effort is required from the whole team (including the "background" players) to make a two-minute race possible. Although the author's goal was not an expose of the industry, he didn't shy away from discussing issues.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall3 out of 5 stars
-
Performance3 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- Sarah
- 12-05-2018
Better than average racing book, but that's a low bar
As a horse racing fan and veteran reader of equine biographies, my expectations for accuracy, and reality, have been crushed over the decades. Of the three previous Triple Crown winners in my lifetime, only Secretariat's bios by Wolfe and perhaps Nack, did their subject justice. This one tries, but also falls short.
The author is well acquainted with horse racing, and is in a position to get some things right that others might miss. But certain small errors, and apparent poor editing, are jarring at times.
Many facts are introduced in one chapter, and then reintroduced in a subsequent one as if they were new information the reader had not heard before. It as though the book was an assemblage of separate essays, rather than a seamless whole.
In fairness Drape does capture a fair bit of the drama involved in Pharoah's career. This is undermined by the reader's strong tendency to emote. Emphases are often in the wrong places, and subject breaks often melded confusingly together.
I enjoyed the book somewhat, and am happy to have listened, because I love the subject. But I was frequently frustrated with the experience as well.
3 people found this helpful
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars
-
Story4 out of 5 stars
- Carrie
- 17-05-2018
A Look Inside Racing
A rare and mostly honest look at the personalities that are the face of horse racing. I felt like the excitement of the actual races was missing. But I really enjoyed the book and learned a thing or two about what goes on behind the scenes
2 people found this helpful
-
Overall2 out of 5 stars
-
Performance2 out of 5 stars
-
Story3 out of 5 stars
- Allan Herzig
- 13-05-2018
Pretty hokey writing, read with the same flavor.
Having worked on a thoroughbred breeding farm, and worked with horses all my life, the details of this book were somewhat accurate, but told with so much anthropomorphism and melodrama that I couldn't listen to the whole thing!
2 people found this helpful