Coming Soon to a Bookstore Near You: More Horse Books

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The success of Laura Hillenbrand's "Seabiscuit," which has more than 400,000 copies in print and is being made into a motion picture, is spawning more books on horse racing and breeding, according to USA Today.

Among the new books soon to be available to horse lovers is a re-release of Bill Nack's "Secretariat: The Making of a Champion." (Da Capo, $16.50, March). First released in 1975 and updated with a new cover, new material, and new preface, Nack's book due out in March is ''the gold standard'' of books about great horses, Hillenbrand told USA Today.

Hillenbrand's book, which chronicles the rags to riches tale of a Depression-era equine star and his colorful connections, is soon to be released in paperback.

''Any intelligent publisher confronted with Seabiscuit would be reaching for any horse book he might have in his stable...Laura has put horse racing back in the national consciousness,'' said Nack, 61, who gained prominence as the turf writer for Sports Illustrated magazine.

Other horse books cited by USA Today for release this spring are:

--"My Racing Heart: The Passionate World of Thoroughbreds and the Track," by Nan Mooney (HarperCollins, $24.95, April). A contributor to The Blood-Horse, Mooney describes how she was influenced by her grandmother's love for horseflesh and horse racing.

--"Stud: Adventures in Breeding," by Kevin Conley (Bloomsbury, $24.95, March), which focuses on the leading breeding farms in the world.

--"Horse of a Different Color: A Tale of Breeding Geniuses, Dominant Females and the Fastest Derby Winner Since Secretariat," by James D. Squires (PublicAffairs, $25, April). The book is written by the former editor of the Chicago Tribune who bred Kentucky Derby winner Monarchos.

--"Not by Accident: Reconstructing a Careless Life," by Samantha Dunn (Holt, $23, available now). Memoir details how a terrible accident while riding near Los Angeles changed her life but not change her love of horses.

Look For More Books About Horses, from Eclipse Press

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