Ever since their old pony passed away, the race horses have not been running well. But worse than that, the champion stallion, Govad, has turned vicious. Are these high strung horses simply missing their old friend, or is something more sinister afoot? Annie can sense the terror and pain of the stallion through her magical telepathic connection with the black pony, Midnight, and she suspects animal abuse. Can she unravel this mystery in time for Govad to run his big race, or will the stallion's mean streak force his owners to destroy him Book Two of the Black Pony Adventures carries you into the exciting world of horse racing at beautiful Turf Paradise of Phoenix, and includes a fun gymkhana in Apache Junction. Connie Peck grew up in the shadow of the Superstition Mountains and rode her pony in gymkhanas and trail rides all around Apache Junction. She is a retired teacher living in central Texas

    It’s a risk: they can’t be sure whether or not the colt will have the talent of his ancestor, but they are lucky, and bit by bit the colt shows signs he has inherited well.

    In 1979 he won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes—and transcended his sport on a run of twelve consecutive stakes victories—but his quest for the Triple Crown was lost with a third-place finish in the Belmont Stakes due to a series of bizarre events that have never been accurately reported. In The Fast Ride, Jack Gilden tells the story of what really happened that day the Bid lost the biggest race of his life. Along the way, he introduces the reader to a cast of characters from the gilded age of late twentieth-century horse racing, from Bid’s owners, the renowned Meyerhoff family, to Grover “Buddy” Delp, the fast-talking trainer, to teenage jockey Ronnie Franklin, whose meteoric rise to fame aboard Spectacular Bid came at the cost of his innocence and well-being. Also present are four of the era’s magnificent Latino riders, Ángel Cordero Jr., Jacinto Vasquez, Georgie Velasquez, and Ruben Hernandez, who all felt the sting of rejection and bigotry during their long careers even as they found their way and raised the level of competition to a feverish pitch. Underlying Spectacular Bid’s saga was a thin line between hard work and excess, including substance abuse, animal manipulation and doping, and race fixing. Hardly anyone in the horse’s circle made it out unscathed or undamaged.The Fast Ride is the story of a great racehorse, unfulfilled dreams, the exhilaration and steep price of striving at all costs, and an American era in which getting everything you ever wanted could be the most empty and unfulfilling sensation of all.