My Year of the Racehorse

June 4, 2012
A young Chinese-Canadian journalist and "all-around enthusiast" is drawn to a sport with a fading star in this quirky, entertaining memoir. Chong (Neil Young Nation: A Quest, an Obsession (and a True Story), nonfiction) is a commitment-phobe who has never been tied downâneither by "boy-girl relationships" nor a full-time job. At 33-years-old, he decides it's time for a big change, which leads to Chong becoming part-owner of Blackie, a low-tier racehorse with "the equine personality of a biker chick" and known professionally as Mocha Time. Chong details his many adventures with charming self-deprecation, and introduces readers to a diverse cast of charactersâfrom Randi, Blackie's gruff trainer who reveals her "stripping song is AC/DC's âYou Shook Me All Night Long;'" to his long suffering immigrant parents. But the true focus is the author himself. Arguably, this works in the book's favor, as Chong proves to be both fun and genuinely funny, and his numerous foibles (e.g., discussing horse masturbation at a wedding, enlisting the services of an animal psychic) make for a consistently entertaining and informative read.

April 15, 2012
It is not the best of times for the sport of kingsoff-track betting and the spread of casino gambling have seen to thatbut for those with horses in their blood, the allure of the track never fades. So it is for Chong, a Vancouver writer who buys a small piece of a low-end Thoroughbred named Mocha Time and soon finds himself falling in love not only with the horse but also with the backstretch at Hastings Park, the city's down-at-the-heels racetrack. Chong takes us through his year as a part-owner, from the exhilarating moment of purchase to the melancholy finale, when Blackie is claimed (track parlance for a horse that's bought in a claiming race, where all the field is up for sale), and in the process, we, too, feel the special camaraderie among horse people, from grooms through trainers, jockeys, and even owners. The vivid, affecting portraits of the people who live on the backstretch will remind readers of the HBO series Luck, just as the hardbitten manner in which Chong's veteran racetrackers deal with loss will evoke Jaimy Gordon's Lord of Misrule (2010).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)