Wink - Paperback

by Ed Hotaling (Author)

Forced from American horse racing in 1903 by racism and hard times, two-time Kentucky Derby winner Jimmy Winkfield won every major European race and earned two dazzling fortunes -- only to lose one in the Bolshevik Revolution and another in the Nazi invasion of France. In this captivating biography, historian Ed Hotaling traces Wink's extraordinary odyssey from shoeshine boy through the epochal events of the 20th century.

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"May be the most fascinating untold sports story in American history."--Charles Osgood, anchor, "CBS News Sunday Morning"

"Winkfield's story is so incredible you'll find yourself wondering why you've never heard it before."--MSNBC

"Winkfield's life (is) an unbelievable ride."--ESPN

"For once, a book's breathless subtitle is accurate."--"The Washington Post"

"This is the stuff of great nonfiction."--Douglas Brinkley, author of "Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War"

In 1904, at age twenty-three, two-time Kentucky Derby-winner Jimmy Winkfield was forced from American horseracing by a virulent combination of racism and hard times. Wink left his beloved Kentucky, bought a steamer ticket for Europe, and made the world his racetrack.

There he embarked on a decades-long odyssey, rising to superstardom and winning and losing two fortunes. Driven at gunpoint from Russia by the Bolshevik Army and from France by Nazi occupiers, the 105-pound jockey proved himself the most resilient, courageous athlete of the twentieth century. In 2005, Winkfield was inducted into America's horse racing Hall of Fame.

Winkfield achieved a human greatness that transcends the limits of sport. In "Wink," Ed Hotaling tells this wonderful story--this American story--in all its rich and vibrant power.

Ed Hotaling is the nation's preeminent authority on early American horse racing. A recent Emmy-winning reporter for the NBC television station in Washington, D.C., he is the author of "They're Off! Horse Racing at Saratoga" and "The Great Black Jockeys."