Racing's Return from the Brink

At the dawn of the twentieth century, American horse racing clung to a precarious existence. A wave of antigambling legislation threatened to destroy the industry until one extraordinary Thoroughbred gelding, dubbed the "Miracle Horse" by the media, helped steer it away from extinction.

In Racing's Return from the Brink, James C. Nicholson tells the story of Old Rosebud within the context of the volatile cultural and political environment of the early 1900s. Named for a brand of bourbon produced by his owners' family distillery, Old Rosebud set a track record when he won the 1914 Kentucky Derby by eight lengths. After sustaining an injury in his next race, Old Rosebud was sidelined for years before returning to the track, ultimately recording forty wins in a career that lasted until 1922. Meanwhile, opportune promotion from certain pillars of the Thoroughbred racing community sold policymakers and the public on the notion that horse racing was vital to US security at a time when the Mexican Revolution and World War I were still fresh in Americans' minds.

Though his fame has since faded, Old Rosebud was one of the most talented racehorses of his era and was once among the most recognizable names in US sports. Racing's Return from the Brink is the first book to examine this critical period in American Thoroughbred racing history and one of the sport's forgotten superstars.