Author(s): Les Carlyon

Biography

Spanning more than twenty-five years on the track, Tales From The Turf is a passing parade of people and horses, winners and losers. The racetrack is Les Carlyon's world: the banter of the trainers, the bustle of the mounting yards, the dawn rituals in Saratoga and Hong Kong, the thrilling wins of unpredictable racehorses from Kentucky to Caulfield. Tales From The Turf is a passing parade of people and horses, winners and losers: from Carbine and Phar Lap to Vo Rogue and Kingston Town, Empire Rose, Schillaci, Saintly, Sunline, Octagon, Might And Power and Northerly. With pieces from the 1970s (Bart Cummings before he was a Cup legend) and recent stories including a moving farewell to Colin Hayes. Venture inside the world of T.J Smith, Mick Dittman, Damien Oliver, Shane Dye, Vic Rail, Bart Cummings, Gai Waterhouse, Lee Freeman, Jack Denham, the Ingham Brothers and Colin Hayes. Les's eye is both sharp and tender, his writing is so vivid you can almost feel the steaming breath of the mighty gallopers on your cheek and he is under no illusions about the reality of this glorious, awful, fortune-making, heart-breaking sport.