The best horse racing books have a way of capturing the grace and character of the noble thoroughbred and its human companions. As a long-time horse racing fan, I’ve spent many happy hours reading about the sport, its people, history, characters, and horses. Horse racing has an unusually good body of literature for a sport that is not much in the public eye any more.

Good handicapping books were few and far between before Tom Ainslie came along. Ainslie’s Complete Guide to Thoroughbred Racing was the first book to pull together a comprehensive approach to handicapping, setting it apart from the more system-based books that had previously characterized the genre. Although the Complete Guide is a bit dated today, it remains a solid overall introduction to handicapping.

Better yet, though, is Steve Davidowitz’s Betting Thoroughbreds. This fantastic book covers virtually every aspect of handicapping from speed figures to class evaluation, pedigree analysis, pace handicapping, and much more. As a guide to bread and butter handicapping, Betting Thoroughbreds is best of breed.

When it comes to horse racing books, few do it better than Andy Beyer. Although he wasn’t the first to discover and use speed figures, he was the first to popularize them; and the eponymous Beyer figures remain a staple in the Daily Racing Form today. All of Beyer’s books are worth reading, but Picking Winners, and Beyer on Speed are must reads for any enthusiast.

Those who love horse racing love it for more than the gambling aspect alone, however. The colorful characters that are staples of any race track backstretch are superb fodder for the gimlet eye of horse racing authors. Bill Nack’s Secretariat: The Making of a Champion is a fantastic behind the scenes look at the career of America’s greatest race horse.

If you haven’t picked up a copy of Laura Hillenbrand’s best-selling Seabiscuit: An American Legend, run, don’t walk to your nearest book store and grab one now. It’s an amazing account of the unlikely rags to riches story of the horse, his jockey, trainer, and owner. Hillenbrand takes you back in time to when racing was America’s sport, and this little horse that could became a national star.