So you want to own a racehorse?: Then follow the highs and lows of my personal journey

Not quite finished it yet

Philip Woodcock-Jones' book does for the life of a race horse owner what James Herriot did for the countryside vet.It is a well written , humorous and interesting book, full of anecdotal asides and of interest to anyone interested in horses or racing.Jargon is kept to a minimum and at the back of the book there are explanations of the most common racing terms.What becomes clear from page one is Woodcock-Jones' passion and love for horses.He details the horses which became household names in years gone by, the different racecourses with their individual quirks (Bangor on Dee where you watch the race from a grassy bank with the horses coming head-on towards you), the numerous characters such as owners,trainers, country people, vets and jockeys he has encountered.The thrill of owning suddenly emerged and he visited several trainers until the significant day came when he parted with £400 for a share.He does not shy away from the reality that there were many occasions where things went badly, horses recovering from both short term and long term injuries, huge distances to drive in order to visit distant racecourses, horses sometimes having accidents with fatal consequences.Horses can be ironically so tough and yet so fragile.He argues that the only way to succeed is to be persistent and tenacious because he does not believe in luck per se. Irrationality,eternal hope and taking nothing for granted are required virtues of an owner. There are a few highs and many lows and on some occasions he felt like giving upThe descriptions of individual races and how the horses dealt with varying conditions are brilliantly done and obviously written by someone with a good knowledge of the sport. Part of the book deals with the creation of a syndicate and the difficulties which ill-chosen horses and unhappy syndicate members present.Real racing people are eternal optimists he argues and he only became contented when he was able to create such a group.The climax of the book deals with the two mile handicap in February 2016 at Sedgefield Racecourse.Fiddlers Flight ridden by Colm McCormack was still miraculously able to win the race despite being nearly jettisoned from the saddle and being eight lengths behind the leaders.In the television At The Races competition McCormack won the ride of the year competition and gained immediate celebrity to the thrill of all the syndicate membersAnd finally there are some good suggestions if you wish to go further and join or create a syndicate.The book contains many photographs of the various horses,races and characters mentioned in the book.I thoroughly enjoyed it.It brought back many happy memories of races I have watched.