"Chew on this," says Melrose Plant to Richard Jury, who's in the hospital being driven crazy by Hannibal, a nurse who likes to speculate on his chances for survival. Jury could use a good story, preferably one not ending with his own demise.

Plant tells Jury of something he overheard in The Grave Maurice, a pub near the hospital. A woman told an intriguing story about a girl named Nell Ryder, granddaughter to the owner of the Ryder Stud Farm in

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A small-time con artist, nicknamed for his favorite candy, gets in over his head when he swindles a tough gangster out of some gambling profits. The Kid concocts a scheme to pay back the money by Christmas, by tricking his pals into dressing up as Santas and collecting money for a made-up charity.

Seabiscuit is the remarkable tale of a thoroughbred racehorse and down-and-out jockey John "Red" Pollard, an ex-prizefighter. Together they become hard luck heroes for a troubled nation and two of the most celebrated sports figures of the twentieth century.

"The dramatic true story of the champion Thoroughbred racehorse who gained international fame in the tumultuous, Civil War-era South, despite going nearly blind, and became the most successful sire in American racing history. The early days of American horse-racing were grueling. Four-mile heats-races four miles long, run two or three times in succession!-were the norm, rewarding horses who possessed the ideal combination of stamina and speed, attributes...

A Harvard dropout's memoir of playing the horses-a great read for handicappers or those who enjoyed Ben Mezrich's Bringing Down the House. In 1977, before he was known as the creator of "The Beyer Speed Figure," Andrew Beyer set out on a gambling odyssey, determined to prove himself as a horseplayer. He would marshal all his handicapping skills for assaults on four racetracks: Gulfstream Park, Pimlico, Saratoga, and the Barrington Fair. The then thirty-three-year-old...

This fun and witty expos of horse racing in America goes behind the scenes at the track, providing a serious gambler's-eye-view of the action. Ted McClelland spent a year at tracks and off-track betting facilities in Chicago and across the country, profiling the people who make a career of gambling on horses. This account follows his personal journey of what it means to be a player as he gambles with his book advance using various betting and handicapping...

The moving story of a tough little horse, a gifted boy, and a woman ahead of her time. The youngest jockey, the smallest horse, and an unconventional heiress, who disliked publicizing herself. Together, near Liverpool, England, they made a leap of faith on a spring day in 1938: overriding the jockey's father, trusting the boy and the horse that the British nicknamed the "American pony" to handle a racecourse that newspapers called "Suicide Lane."...