Right enough, if you discovered that you had an emperor in your ancestry, you would want to let it be known. And so it is that Racing Through My Mind by Aubrey Brabazon begins by telling us that a distant relative sent him a beautifully bound volume revealing that "we traced our ancestry back to Charlemagne". And, writes Brabazon in the first lines of his lively memoirs, while this has no relevance to the main subject-matter of this book, "I feel that, having an emperor in the family, it would be a pity not to mention him." Fair enough.
The book was sent to Y with a short note from his son Dick because of a reference here some time ago to the long-lamented Dolphin Hotel in Dublin where legal people, racing people, and even students on a fling used to gather. Dick Brabazon may not have realised that Y knows as much about racing as he does about gasballooning, but, in fact, the book is a good read about people as much as about horses and the story is well told. Without self-pity the author notes his various mishaps as well as his many victories and high-points. "I broke my collar bones 13 times, my arm once. I cracked my ribs, punctured a lung and suffered concussion on countless occasions." He notes philosophically that, spread over 25 years it is a light enough toll. At least, when he retired, he was of one piece and able to enjoy life, unlike some of his colleagues. "There is only one way to avoid injury, and that is to stop riding."
Oddly, when asked over the air what was the highlight of his career, his answer was: "My one ride in the English Derby." Not his big Cheltenham wins, for example. Why? The Derby from its inception in 1780 has been the greatest horse race in the world, he avers. (He finished "in mid-division".) But the charm of the book for the non-specialist is in the warmth of the man and the interesting people he met. John McCormack was given a dinner in the Gresham Hotel, Dublin to welcome him back from his world tours. Frank More O'Ferrall hoped that it would not be long before his racing silks appeared again on the racecourses. Count McCormack rose to reply "with an unforgettable oneline speech". Pausing for a few moments, he then solemnly made the sign of the cross as he announced: "I am being brought back to the turf."
People, people, people as much as horses, with a wistful foreword by Vincent O'Brien, recalling times "when racing was smaller, more of a sport and less commercial, friendlier but certainly just as challenging". Vota Books, printed 1998, reprinted 1999. £18.95.