{"product_id":"the-fast-ride-jack-gilden-9781496230508","title":"The Fast Ride: Spectacular Bid and the Undoing of a Sure Thing","description":"In an era of spectacular thoroughbreds, Spectacular Bid was perhaps the most exalted racehorse of them all. In 1979 he won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes--and transcended his sport on a run of twelve consecutive stakes victories--but his quest for the Triple Crown was lost with a third-place finish in the Belmont Stakes due to a series of bizarre events that have never been accurately reported. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e In \u003ci\u003eThe Fast Ride\u003c\/i\u003e, Jack Gilden tells the story of what really happened that day the Bid lost the biggest race of his life. Along the way, he introduces the reader to a cast of characters from the gilded age of late twentieth-century horse racing, from Bid's owners, the renowned Meyerhoff family, to Grover \"Buddy\" Delp, the fast-talking trainer, to teenage jockey Ronnie Franklin, whose meteoric rise to fame aboard Spectacular Bid came at the cost of his innocence and well-being. Also present are four of the era's magnificent Latino riders, ﾁngel Cordero Jr., Jacinto Vasquez, Georgie Velasquez, and Ruben Hernandez, who all felt the sting of rejection and bigotry during their long careers even as they found their way and raised the level of competition to a feverish pitch. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e Underlying Spectacular Bid's saga was a thin line between hard work and excess, including substance abuse, animal manipulation and doping, and race fixing. Hardly anyone in the horse's circle made it out unscathed or undamaged. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Fast Ride\u003c\/i\u003e is the story of a great racehorse, unfulfilled dreams, the exhilaration and steep price of striving at all costs, and an American era in which getting everything you ever wanted could be the most empty and unfulfilling sensation of all. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Jack Gilden\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1496230507\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781496230508\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Nebraska Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/01\/2022\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 336\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.40lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.20h x 6.20w x 1.10d","brand":"Jack Gilden","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":44049503617279,"sku":"9781496230508","price":34.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_23f2dad7-1c41-4d3e-a0f7-1ad536c19990.jpg?v=1685001876","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-fast-ride-jack-gilden-9781496230508","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}