How to Pick a Winner

Released for the 2004 Melbourne Cup, this guide provides astute observations and hilarious insights for both racing amateurs and seasoned racing and betting pros. Celebrating “the sport of kings,” this insider’s view explores the personalities, scandals, oddities, joys of ownership, social divisions, betting systems, and how it all began—blame King Charles II—while offering sound advice to newcomers.

Mary Mountier is the author and editor of six books on horse-racing and thoroughbreds. She is a former member of New Zealand’s Totalisator Agency Board, a betting regulatory agency, and a recipient of a national medal for services to racing.