Going to the Last: Short Stories about Horse Racing

For too long the author considered himself a writer of racing fiction. It is a neglected market, with good reason. No fictional account, and certainly not the tawdry thrillers which constitute the niche genre, can ever come close to replicating the reality of the sport.

Horse racing is the quintessence of drama, the story unfolding daily from every corner of the country, with guest appearances from Ireland, France and other countries when the sport here must draw breath.

The cast of these short stories is drawn from all the cardinal points of society, from the aristocracy to rough diamonds, from the glamorous to the mucky boots of stable yards, to people who are quite simply the best human life can aspire to. And then there are the horses, the true stars, the species racing people put on a pedestal.

Horse racing is tragedy and comedy. It is everything Shakespeare aspired to. In stories which embrace most strands of storytelling Going to the Last: Short Stories about Horse Racing is a brave but foolhardy attempt to reflect the beautiful truth of a remarkable sport.