Handy All the Way

Peter Walwyn, who has just retired, was for more than thirty-five years one of the country's foremost racehorse trainers - and about the only trainer for whom racegoers and racing professionals alike have a deep and genuine affection. He was the first flat racing trainer to send out more than 100 winners in a season, was champion trainer and trained the great Derby winner Grundy. But the appeal of the book lies less in Peter Walwyn's achievements on the track, great though they may be, but in the nature of the man - one of the last great traditionalists of the turf. His lanky physique and eccentric behaviour led to him being nicknamed 'Basil Fawlty'; he is a man with strong and outspoken opinions on every aspect of the racing game. He is also a fund of marvellous racing stories: in his long career, he has encountered scores of legendary racing personalities, from Lester Piggott to Frankie Dettori, and describes them with humorous relish. Handy All The Way is not a conventional autobiography, but a marvellous collection of anecdotes by one of racing's best-loved characters.