Andrews UK
Featuring: Bill Barton; Michaela Barton; Jay Barton
352 pages ISBN: 1783444010 EAN: 9781783444014 Kindle: B01DZ58XTQ Paperback / e-Book Add to Wish List
Jay and her cousin Michaela ride Uncle Bill's ponies in
England. But Uncle Bill takes them to where pony races are
run, with illegal betting. RACING MANHATTAN starts with
outsider Jay having no chance, but she has spotted that the
wet muddy ground is causing trouble and steers old Dusty to
a good finish. Oddly enough this doesn't make her popular
with her uncle, nor with Michaela.
I've recently read 'One Dollar Horse' which has similar
themes, but RACING MANHATTAN is more gritty, perhaps
because it's written by a man, Terence Blacker. Jay is
orphaned and her uncle's care leaves some warmth to be
desired, so she spends all her time with the ponies. Now
the crafty man wonders if she could be trained up as a
jockey, to his benefit of course. Mitching off school she
accompanies him to illegal races run by shady men where
animals are not the priority. Money is. And Jay is only
fourteen.
Making her way to Newmarket, aged sixteen, Jay has to try
to get a job on the bottom rung of the racing stable
ladder. She doesn't have any references. Male stable lads
resent a girl. That's when she meets a big grey mare called
Manhattan, whom nobody likes. Maybe the two of them have
something in common.
The tale is actually a bit grim for many young readers. The
notion of working your way up is fine when your competition
is kids in the Pony Club. In a real racing yard there is no
time for sympathy, no patience with tears. The grey mare's
owner won't breed from tainted bloodlines so if Manhattan
doesn't shape up, it's over for her. Sexism and bullying
are rife in the yard. And Jay hasn't seen the last of her
Uncle Bill, still her legal guardian.
I like that Jay studies the bloodlines and histories of
famous racehorses. She wants to learn and take a proper
apprenticeship. The portrayal of British racing fits with
what I know of it, in past generations. I would hope
matters have improved. However we are told that Jay is in a
small old-fashioned yard, and she has offers to go to
better places, so she does seem to be bringing a lot of
trouble on herself. Given the cost of racehorse training
fees I would be surprised if a non-trier would be kept
stabled at all. But RACING MANHATTAN rewards patience. As
does Terence Blacker in this inspirational, uplifting young
adult book. Read it.
Jay Barton has spent her life on the outside, being
overlooked and mocked for her tomboy ways. All she wants to
do is ride her favourite pony, which belongs to her much
wealthier cousin. But then Jay shows a talent for winning
the illegal pony races her uncle takes her to, and he starts
to push her to take more and more risks. At 15, Jay decides
to run away, to live the life of a stable hand.
Her fortunes are changed when she meets Manhattan: a
pedigree grey racehorse who has used up all her chances and
is now neglected and despised. Jay recognises a fellow
misfit. She fights to give Manhattan one last opportunity to
show she is the champion she was born to be. Together, they
face a world of prejudice and cruelty and fight back the
only way they know by becoming the best.
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