Blood Horses, by John Jeremiah Sullivan
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.The horse is the animal mankind has enjoyed the closest relationship with, at least until the advent of the horseless carriage; nowadays the closest most of us get to equus caballus is eating it, a subject John Jeremiah Sullivan touches on in this luminous, hard-to-characterise book.
It is in part a memoir of his father, "Sully", a hard-drinking, chain-smoking sports reporter with a poetic streak who, when asked by his son what his most memorable sporting experience was, replied: "I was at Secretariat's [Kentucky] Derby in 1973. That was… just beauty, you know?"
This inspired Sullivan to delve deep into the history of the horse in general and thoroughbreds in particular. The result reads more like a series of long magazine articles than a sequential narrative, but his relationship with his father binds the many elements satisfyingly together. Along the way he asks where and when did man first sit on the back of a horse, and why, and informs us there was an official record of equine aristocracy, James Weatherby's 1791 Stud Book, 35 years before Burke's Peerage did the same for human beings.
The racing scenes may be set in America but the themes and emotions Sullivan examines are universal, and by the sheer fizzing excellence of his writing he carries off the difficult task he set himself triumphantly.
Published in hardback by Yellow Jersey, £12.99
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments