[.ca] Horse Of A Different Color: A Tale of Breeding Geniuses, ... (ISBN 1586481800)

the worst horse racing book ever written by far!!!:
out of the dozens of horse racing books i've read, this one is undoubtedly the worst. the entire book is written in a third-person perspective... the author refers to his wife throughout the book as the "dominant female." not once or twice, but EVERY single time he makes reference to her. this might have been clever if it had been done a couple of times spread throughout the book but \oit's not\c. this book also confirms the cliche that "every dog has his day" because it is amazing that this \oguy\c could have been a managing editor of a major newspaper, and could have bred the kentucky derby winner monarchos ...

terrible:
the most significant part of this forgettable book is when the author recounts what was said in a magazine about him: 'as long as there is a village without an idiot, this guy will find a home.' that really says it all, don't waste your time or money on this pitiful book.

More Horse, Less Author:
"Horse of a Different Color" shines when it shines the spotlight on Monarchos, winner of the 2000 Kentucky Derby. It sinks when the author looks at himself. Somewhere along the line, an Editor should have warned the author against using a second person narrative style. It just gets annoying after a while. And his dubbing of his wife as "The Dominant Female" is kind of cute at first, but after 300 pages it really grates on the nerves. Cutesy writing has no place in a book for adults.

Horse of a different color--LAME:
I really enjoyed Seabiscuit, so I figured I'd give Horse of a Different Color a try. This book focuses on the money and the dumb-luck of the breeder (and author) of Monarchos, Derby winner from a few years back. The author uses self-depricating humor and name-dropping en masse to turn an undoubtedly exciting story into a painful, annoying tale. In a few paragraphs of unwisdom, author Jim Squires mentioned Seabiscuit, only compounding my fury at what this book is not. Instead of interesting characters (although I imagine they were there, Mr. Squires just didn't let us know them), we got names and generalities. Instead of heart-pounding tales of horse races, we got ho-hum descriptions of only two races. I will admit that there were a few worthwhile pages. I was unaware of the foreign interest in horse racing nor the internal politics of racing and breeding, but I would have rather read that in a short magazine article. Maybe this book is selling to all the hopeful newspaper editors turned lucky breeder. If that's not you, I'd stay away.

Decent, but not great.:
Jim Squires, Horse of a Different Color (Perseus, 2002) Horse of a Different Color is an autobiographical account of Jim Squires getting into the horse breeding business and, three years after he started, breeding 2001 Kentucky Derby winner Monarchos. Whether that was a stroke of luck or breeding genius remains to be seen, but following Monarchos through the eyes of his breeder is engaging enough to make a decent book. Where it falls short is in Squires' writing style. First, note the word "autobiographical" in that first paragraph. Squires insisting on using the third person would have been an amusing trick for a chapter or two, but he persists throughout the novel. It gets old after a few pages. Also, there's something vaguely disquieting about his attitude towards women here; it almost seems too deferential to be real (and thus, a cover for something else). This could certainly be a literary device; the book's subtitle does mention that there are an excess of dominant females within these pages. Still, some of the descriptions in here made me read twice. When he focuses on the horse, though, everything works just fine. Even the annoyance of the insistent third person narrative fades into the background. Monarchos was one hell of a horse, and Squires' book captures that well enough. Not as well as Hillenbrand captured Seabiscuit or Farley captured Man o' War, but enough for the Derby-and-Breeders' Cup horse fan to relive some good memories. Recommended, though it won't make the top twenty-five list this year. ***