Book Projects
WARRIOR
The global hit theatre production and now Steven Spielberg’s film of War Horse, have immortalised the farm boy’s horse, Joey, who went to the First World War…and then came back again. Warrior, the story of Brough’s grandfather’s charger is in many ways the pole reverse of this, and yet both this book, a true story, and War Horse are united in that they tell of the simple, unspoken, uncomplaining nobility of the horse.
First published in 1934, Warrior: The Amazing Story of a Real War Horse, is told by Winston Churchill’s great heroic friend, Jack Seely, about how he took Warrior to France in 1914, surviving five years of bombs and bullets to lead a cavalry charge in 1918 before returning home where they rode on together until 1938; their combined ages (70 + 30) totalling 100.
The book tells the whole history of Warrior, from his birth on the Isle of Wight to his amazing life as a famous war horse leading the Canadian cavalry and how a combination of both the horse’s extraordinary character and some unbelievable twists of fate, helped him survive a war which claimed the lives of 8 million horses. As well as an Introduction by Brough and a Preface by Sir Peter O’Sullevan, the book includes the original illustrations which equine and war artist Sir Alfred Munnings drew especially for Jack Seely both during the war and at home afterwards.
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Click here to buy 'WARRIOR' from the Racing Post's online shop.
BEYOND THE FRAME
Brough has edited and written the captions that accompany Sports Photographer of The Year 2009, Edward’s Whitaker’s second stunning photo anthology. The book includes Edward’s Sports Photographer award winning portfolio and its content is perhaps best described by Jilly Cooper who has written the Foreword:
"In this most beautiful collection of photographs, you will find racing’s entire cast: owners, trainers, jockeys united in camaraderie and rivalry, stable lads, farriers, bookies, punters, star-struck celebrities…nor will you be in any doubt that photography is an art form as you marvel over horses floodlit against an indigo Dubai sky, or, with steam from their nostrils mingling with the morning mist, in landscapes to rival any Gainsborough or Stubbs."
In the captions for the photos, Brough and Edward have, for the first time, also tried to reveal the photographer’s art – ‘where’ a picture is set up, ‘why’ a certain light or angle is taken and ‘how’ a specific mood is captured.
Click here to buy 'BEYOND THE FRAME' from the Racing Post's online shop.
McCOY (Updated & Revised)
McCoy celebrates the country's most successful jump jockey, Tony 'AP' McCoy, BBC's Sports Personality of the Year 2010. The book is a wonderful record of the champion jump jockey's career in both words and images, chronicling his rise with trainer Jim Bolger and his first winner in 1992, his move to England in 1994 with Toby Balding, joining Martin Pipe in 1995 and his various big-race winners on the likes of Pridwell, Edredon Bleu, Best Mate, Brave Inca, Binocular and of course Don't Push It in the 2010 Grand National.
Brough Scott edits the book: "The Racing Post has been lucky enough to fully chronicle in both words and pictures AP's phenomenal achievements of the last 15 years. This book gather's together the best of this material to give a unique picture of the finest sportsman currently operating in any discipline anywhere"
Click here to buy 'McCoy' from the Racing Post's online shop.
McCOY
McCoy celebrates the country's most successful jump jockey, Tony 'AP' McCoy, in the year in which he won the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year and the world’s most famous horse race, the Grand National. McCoy is a wonderful record of the champion jump jockey's career in both words and images, chronicling his rise with trainer Jim Bolger and his first winner in 1992, his move to England in 1994 with Toby Balding, joining Martin Pipe in 1995 and his various big-race winners on the likes of Pridwell, Edredon Bleu, Best Mate, Brave Inca, Binocular and of course Don't Push It.
Brough Scott edits the book. 'The Racing Post has been lucky enough to fully chronicle in both words and pictures AP's phenomenal achievements of the last 15 years. This book gather's together the best of this material to give a unique picture of the finest sportsman currently operating in any discipline anywhere.' Linked pieces by Brough Scott will join the historical articles together and set.
Click here to buy 'McCoy' from the Racing Post's online shop.
OF HORSES AND HEROES
'Here, as best I could write it, is what lit my fire.'
Brough Scott's sixty-year love affair with horses and with racing began in 1948 at the Isle of Wight point-to-point, where the brook on the landing side of the final fence was supplemented with liquid waste from the gents’ urinal. But that point-to-point was also where a horse named Black 47 got hopelessly tailed off yet still won – and in the process ignited the flame which set a five-year-old spectator on the way to becoming first a professional jockey, and then one of the leading journalists and broadcasters of his generation.
From humble Black 47 to household name Denman, the horses who formed the landmarks along that sixty-year journey are all here: the fabled Warrior, on whom in 1918 Brough’s grandfather led one of the last great cavalry charges in history; equine immortals Arkle, Mill Reef, Red Rum, Dancing Brave and Desert Orchid; and in the new millennium Best Mate, Motivator – whose Derby-winning year in 2005 was chronicled at close quarters through the special privilege of a backstage pass – and Denman himself.
Alongside the horses are the heroes – jockeys like Lester Piggott, Steve Cauthen and Tony McCoy and trainers Vincent O’Brien and Charlie Whittingham – who have made racing such a richly woven tapestry for those sixty years, and incisive reports filed from the saddle at such diverse training academies as Sue and Harvey Smith’s yard on the windswept moors above Bingley and the manicured magnificence of Aidan O’Brien’s Ballydoyle.
Frontline experience gives Brough Scott’s chronicle of the world of horse racing its distinctive edge, and Of Horses and Heroes its unique perspective. For anyone who loves horses and horsemen, this is an irresistible book.
Click here to buy 'Of Horses and Heroes' from the Racing Post's online shop.
OTHER BOOKS BY BROUGH
Click here to see all other books by Brough Scott
Racing is incredibly lucky to have him to chronicle its sadnesses and splendours."