Here comes Exterminator! : the longshot horse, the Great War, and the making of an American hero

Title:

Author:

McGraw, Eliza R. L.

ISBN:

9781250065698

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

x, 324 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Contents:

Uncle Henry -- "One of those larger-than-life figures" -- All-American thoroughbred -- The 1918 Kentucky Derby -- "One of the greatest three-year-olds of the season" -- Remarkable gameness -- "The color of the 1920s" -- Iron horse -- Paper record -- "I could stand against the world" -- "A finer, truer horse never lived."

Personal Subject:

Exterminator (Race horse), 1915-1945.

Subject Term:

Race horses -- United States -- Biography.

Horse racing -- United States.

Genre:

Biographies

Summary:

The father of the Kentucky Derby called him "the greatest all-around Thoroughbred in American racing history." Sportswriter Grantland Rice simply called him "the greatest racehorse." Now Eliza McGraw tells the story of how a gangling, long-shot Kentucky Derby winner named Exterminator became one of the most beloved racehorses of all time. Here Comes Exterminator! draws readers into the golden age of racing, with all its ups and downs, the ever-involving interplay of horses and people, and the beauty, grace, fear, and hope that are a daily part of life at the track. Caught between his hotheaded millionaire owner and his knowledgeable trainer, Exterminator captured fans' affection with his personality, consistency, athleticism, and heart. Exterminator's staggering success would dramatically change the world of horse-racing. He challenged the notion that American horses would never live up to Europe's meticulously charted bloodlines and became a patriotic icon of the country after World War I. And his longevity established him as one of the public's most beloved athletes, paving the way for equine celebrities like Seabiscuit and showing Americans they could claim--and love--a famous racehorse as their own.

Holds:

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Library	Call Number	Status
Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury)	798.40092 MCG	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

For fans of Seabiscuit and The Eighty-Dollar Champion , Eliza McGraw tells the story of how a gangling, long-shot Kentucky Derby winner named Exterminator became one of the most beloved racehorses of all time.

The father of the Kentucky Derby called him "the greatest all-around Thoroughbred in American racing history." Sportswriter Grantland Rice simply called him "the greatest racehorse."

Here Comes Exterminator! draws readers into the golden age of racing, with all its ups and downs, the ever-involving interplay of horses and people, and the beauty, grace, fear, and hope that are a daily part of life at the track. Caught between his hotheaded millionaire owner and his knowledgeable trainer, Exterminator captured fans' affection with his personality, consistency, athleticism, and heart.

Exterminator's staggering success would dramatically change the world of horse-racing. He challenged the notion that American horses would never live up to Europe's meticulously charted bloodlines and became a patriotic icon of the country after World War I. And his longevity established him as one of the public's most beloved athletes, paving the way for equine celebrities like Seabiscuit and showing Americans they could claim--and love--a famous racehorse as their own.

Author Notes

ELIZA MCGRAW is a contributing writer for EQUUS magazine and author of two instructional equestrian books as well as two academic works. Her horse-related writing has appeared in The Chronicle of the Horse ,The Blood-Horse, Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred , Raceday 360 , the New York Times ' racing blog, and The Washington Post . She has taught at American University and earned degrees from Columbia University and Vanderbilt University. She lives in Washington, D.C., with her family, and keeps her paint mare Sugar in Potomac, Maryland.

Reviews (2)

Booklist Review

Contrary to its infomercial title, this is a beguiling tale of an ungainly gelding gawky, awkward, and practically lop-eared, who held the racing world in thrall during his career (1917-24) and still holds the record of 33 stakes wins by a Thoroughbred raced in North America. Under the steady hand of future Hall of Fame trainer Henry McDaniel, while skeptically owned by a patent-medicine magnate, Willis Sharpe Kilmer (That horse isn't fast enough to run past me), Exterminator was first used merely as a training partner for Kilmer's beloved Sun Briar. However, when both trainer and owner found something amiss with Sun Briar in the days just before the 1918 Kentucky Derby, Exterminator was substituted and, remarkably, took the Derby by a length. Unfolding without the fanfare of, say, a Seabiscuit or Man o' War, Exterminator's story, and that of the quietly competent and humane McDaniel, will still secure both horse and trainer a place in the hearts of animal lovers, and in horse racing's pantheon of champions.--Moores, Alan Copyright 2016 Booklist

Library Journal Review

During the golden age of horse racing, these animals were as much celebrities as baseball players and boxers. McGraw (writer, Equus magazine) tells the story of Exterminator, a beast not as handsome as his contemporary Man O' War but beloved by the public, with a reputation as an animal that couldn't get any respect, even from his owner. The tall, gangling gelding was bought by Willis Sharpe Kilmer to help train his prize colt Sun Briar, yet it was Exterminator who won the 1918 Kentucky Derby. Even though Exterminator "looked like she should have been hitched to a family buggy for Sunday drives," she went on to start in 99 races and won almost as much money as Man O' War, despite his not competing in as many high-stakes races. McGraw combines the behind-the-scenes glimpses of trainers and owners, who weren't above using trickery to win, with the story of a horse that became a folk hero of an era. VERDICT Readers who couldn't get enough of Laura Hillenbrand's Seabiscuit will welcome this new title; with its colorful cast of characters and exciting down-to-the-wire action, it should have wide appeal.-Susan Belsky, Oshkosh P.L., WI © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

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Summary

Author Notes

Reviews (2)

Booklist Review

Library Journal Review

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