Jumbo to Jockey, By Dominic Prince

Christopher Hirst
Friday 21 January 2011 01:00 GMT
Comments

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.

This is a horsey book with a difference – a big difference. A journalist on the shoals ­ or, rather, the comfortable couch ­ of middle age, Prince suddenly decided he wanted to "ride in a race, on a proper racehorse on one of Britain's racetracks".

There were only two problems with this: a) He had never been in a race, in fact it was 20 years since he had ridden a horse; b) He needed to lose five stones and had never been on a diet.

The resulting memoir of his struggle towards this bizarre goal is utterly original. It is both hilarious and compelling. You would never guess that the world of horse racing or the dreary austerity of dieting could be so intriguing. Not that the diet was constant; Prince's description of cheese and biscuits got this reviewer's mouth watering.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in