Hardcover. 367 pages

Many b/w and colour illustrations, appendices, notes on sources, index.

Clean, unworn copy. No writing or markings. Binding is sound and tight.

Documents the business from the early era in Tallahassee in the 1800s to its unprecedented growth in Marion County, where limestone deposits in the rolling green countryside provide the perfect nutrients for healthy bones and cartilage in livestock. Interviews with first- and second-generation horse people, including Fred Hooper, winner of more breeder's awards and racing honors than anyone in the United States, and Frank David ("Buddy") Yates, Needles' gallop boy in the fifties and the son of Needles' trainer, Roy Yates. Among more than a hundred photographs in the book are shots of the famous captive flamingoes at Hialeah, Rough 'n Tumble's swimming pool at Ocala Stud, Needles exhibiting his characteristic displeasure during morning exercise, Carryback, the second Florida thoroughbred to win the Kentucky Derby, and Affirmed, the first to win the Triple Crown. Appendixes provide information on tracks, earnings, winners, breeder awards, and more.