"May be the most fascinating untold sports story in American history."--Charles Osgood, anchor, CBS News Sunday Morning
"Winkfield's story is so incredible you'll find yourself wondering why you've never heard it before."--MSNBC
"Winkfield's life (is) an unbelievable ride."--ESPN
"For once, a book's breathless subtitle is accurate."--The Washington Post
"This is the stuff of great nonfiction."--Douglas Brinkley, author of Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War
In 1904, at age twenty-three, two-time Kentucky Derby-winner Jimmy Winkfield was forced from American horseracing by a virulent combination of racism and hard times. Wink left his beloved Kentucky, bought a steamer ticket for Europe, and made the world his racetrack.
There he embarked on a decades-long odyssey, rising to superstardom and winning and losing two fortunes. Driven at gunpoint from Russia by the Bolshevik Army and from France by Nazi occupiers, the 105-pound jockey proved himself the most resilient, courageous athlete of the twentieth century. In 2005, Winkfield was inducted into America's horse racing Hall of Fame.
Winkfield achieved a human greatness that transcends the limits of sport. In Wink, Ed Hotaling tells this wonderful story--this American story--in all its rich and vibrant power.