
Each year on the first Saturday in May, the world turns its attention to the twin spires of Churchill Downs for the high-stakes excitement of the "greatest two minutes in sports," the Kentucky Derby. No American sporting event can claim the history, tradition, or pageantry that the Kentucky Derby holds. For more than 130 years, spectators have been fascinated by the magnificent horses that run the Louisville track. Thoroughbreds such as Secretariat and Barbaro have earned instant international fame, along with jockeys such as Isaac Murphy, Ron Turcotte, and Calvin Borel. The Kentucky Derby: How the Run for the Roses Became America's Premier Sporting Event calls this great tradition to post and illuminates its history and culture. Rising from its humble beginnings as an American variation of England's Epsom Derby, the Kentucky Derby became a centerpiece of American sports and the racing industry, confirming Kentucky's status as the Horse Capital of the World. James C. Nicholson argues that the Derby, at its essence, is a celebration of a place, existing as a connection between Kentucky's mythic past and modern society. The Derby is more than just a horse race -- it is an experience enhanced by familiar traditions, icons, and images that help Derby fans to understand Kentucky and define themselves as Americans. Today the Kentucky Derby continues to attract international attention from royalty, celebrities, racing fans, and those who simply enjoy an icy mint julep, a fabulous hat, and a wager on who will make it to the winner's circle. Nicholson provides an intriguing and thorough history of the Kentucky Derby, examining the tradition, spectacle, culture, and evolution of the Kentucky Derby -- the brightest jewel of the Triple Crown.
9.95 USD
When most Americans hear the words “roller derby” today, they think of the kitschy sport once popular on weekend television during the seventies and eighties. Originally an endurance competition where skaters traveled the equivalent of a trip between Los Angeles and New York, derby gradually evolved into a violent contact sport often involving fake fighting. But after nearly dying out in the nineties, derby has been making a comeback. From a mere handful of leagues in the United States just a few years ago, there are now more than 17,000 skaters in more than 400 leagues around the world, with hundreds of thousands of die-hard fans. Down and Derby will tell you everything you ever wanted to know about the sport. Written by veteran skaters as both a history and a how-to, Down and Derby is a brassy celebration of every aspect of the sport, from its origins in the late 1800s, to the rules of a modern bout, to the science of picking an alias, to the many ways you can get involved off skates. Informative, entertaining, and executed with the same tough, sassy, DIY attitude — leavened with plenty of humor — that the sport is known for, Down and Derby is the first and last book on derby you’ll ever need.
14.95 USD
Anton Rippon is a Derby boy through and through. He was born just before Christmas 1944, his entrance into the world hastened after his mother fell over a milk churn in the blackout. At the time of his birth, just down the road a Derby Corporation bus driver was recapturing an escaped German prisoner of war. Despite his dramatic entrance into Derby life, Anton survived to become one of the city's best-known writers and personalities with a string of books to his name and a popular weekly column in 'The Derby Evening Telegraph'. 'A Derby Boy' is a collection of Anton's reminiscences of childhood, teenage years and his introduction to the bustling world of work. Nostalgia abounds with tales of family, schooldays, trips to theatres and cinemas, shops and streets, pubs and clubs, sporting life and national events. These memories are recalled with humour and are sure to strike a chord with a great many Derbeians. Tales of mad butchers to dodgy coalmen, eccentric schoolteachers and odd publicans, illegal gambling and irate undertakers combine with his family's often tragic story to open up a new perpective on life in Derby over four generations.
18.94 USD
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