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23 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Should be subtitled "A Dramatization" , January 19, 2008
I was thrilled to see that someone had finally written a biography of this great and sadly underrated horse. But aside from the photographs and the interesting summary of the fortunes of 1973's other contenders, this book is a huge disappointment.
The prose reads like a high-school term paper, sprinkled with grammar and vocabulary errors, hyperbolic adjectives and an inexhaustible supply of exclamation points.
A big problem is that Walsh can't decide whose story she's telling. While Secretariat of course will play a pivotal role in any telling of Sham's story, page after page is devoted to details already covered elsewhere about Big Red and his connections, leaving us to wonder what Sham was doing in the meantime.
The book is built almost entirely on secondary sources. Sham's connections are never quoted as part of an original interview, and when the author can't locate a name, people just become a "trainer" or a "groom". Pancho Martin and Laffit Pincay are both still alive, and it's hard to imagine that they would be unwilling to talk about Sham if asked. The only primary source besides Penny Chenery (Tweedy)--also more of a part of Secretariat's story--seems to be Sham's co-owner, Viola Sommer. But instead of letting us hear her words directly, we're given imagined/dramatized conversations with her husband and/or Martin.
And that is the book's biggest flaw: dramatic license that stretches the truth to unacceptable levels. The imagined conversations and "thought bubbles" quickly become a tired device, but far worse are the liberties taken with facts. Walsh writes dramatically of Sham's death under an oak tree in his Walmac paddock, and of his (again unnamed) groom remembering how the horse proudly "pranced toward the breeding shed." In fact, Sham's fatal heart attack occurred in his stall as stated in his obituaries, and he was frequently too keyed up to enter the breeding shed until after repeated attempts, as two of his personal grooms told me when I visited Walmac recently.
Both Nack's and Hillenbrand's books succeed so perfectly because they draw faithfully from the inherent drama of a true story. It was a nice thought, but this can't really be called a biography.
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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Nice Effort But Not All True, December 21, 2007
Sham was a very good horse who should not be forgotten. However, there is some misinformation being referred to as factual and also some non-information that would at the very least have been useful, leading me to wonder if this is the best way to remember him. Riva Ridge was referred to as "a lithe, handsome, chestnut horse". Riva Ridge was a bay. Lithe and handsome are opinions, however his color is not. It was also said that Riva Ridge, Key to the Mint, Autobigraphy and Cononero II were engaged in a battle for the 1972 Older Male Eclipse Award. Since Riva Ridge and Key to the Mint were three in 1972, neither horse was eligible for said award. Also one of the reasons I bought the book was to find out more about Sham's pre-Sommer/Martin career. One fact I would have loved to find out was who trained Sham for Claiborne? This person is simply referred to as the trainer. All in all though, I'm glad the attempt was made, however I don't know now whether to trust some facts that I don't have commited to memory.
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20 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Filling in the Details, December 31, 2007
As a thoroughbred racing fan, I've always had the utmost respect and awe for Secretariat, as I feel he was the epitome of the racehorse, and that's why even to this day, other horses are constantly compared to him (and found wanting). Often forgotten, however, is his worthy opponent, Sham, who very likely may also have been a Triple Crown winner if he hadn't had the misfortune to be born in 1970. I've always had a soft spot for Sham because he tried so hard but was chasing a red rocket, impossible to catch. Even Penny Chenery, Secretariat's owner, said she secretly was rooting Sham on, even if just a little, because he was such a fighter. I like to think that Sham helped push Secretariat on to those record-breaking performances.
Although volumes have been written about Secretariat, I never knew much about Sham before his meetings with Secretariat, nor what happened to him after the Triple Crown - so Mary Walsh's "Sham: In the Shadow of a Superhorse" fills a niche. The author weaves Sham's and Secretariat's stories together, because it's truly impossible to tell one without the other, and she adds a nice chapter at the end which tells us what happened to many of the chief players associated with the two horses, as well as some of their equine competition. This book contains a good deal of information I never knew, has lots of photos (although I wish they were in color), and it's written with obvious affection for the subject. If you're a fan of horse-racing history, this book will make a very nice addition to your library.
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