'Better Than Sex' Mick Fitzgerald Autobiography
"Des, after that, you
know even sex is an anti-climax."
"I look down and can see a body, but it's
not my body ... It can't be mine. I can't feel it. It's
as if my head has become separated from the rest of me ..."
From the highs of winning the Grand National aboard Rough Quest in
1996 to the lows of a career-ending horror fall in 2008 when he lay
prostrate on the turf contemplating his own mortality, Mick
Fitzgerald's long-awaited autobiography, Better Than Sex, was
always going to make for a gripping read.
Published on 10th November, it offers a frank, fascinating, and
sometimes brutal insight into a jump jockey's life and the
inner sanctums of that world - the pressure, the cut-throat
competitiveness, the physical and mental strength required, as well
as the camaraderie, kindness and concern that also exist.
Mick begins with a stark description of a childhood scarred by
bullying, his journey up the jockeys' ranks, and the necessary
obsessiveness that drives a man to go home at night and measure
losing distances by drawing lines on a television screen.
We also get up close to the horses that changed his life, an
understanding of his development as a horseman, of knowing when to
push and knowing when to sit and do nothing, and thereby to how he
became one of the top NH jockeys of all time over a career spanning
20 years.
Better Than Sex also takes in the highs of Mick's many
Cheltenham successes, riding for the Queen, his enduring
partnership with Nicky Henderson, and the inevitable falls that are
part of the jockey's package when you find yourself lying in a
hospital with a guitar-like cage imprisoning your head.
All is told with the same Fitzgerald straight-talking dry humour -
the contemplation of his failed first marriage, his views on how
the racing game has changed irrevocably during the 19 years since
he crossed the Irish sea - and the perspective he reaches at the
end of his career, very much a 'cup half-full' man.
"This takes you in close - the technical descriptions have
an accomplished vitality
never equalled on the page, the personal dilemmas are brutally,
unavoidably frank.
No-one should miss it." (Brough Scott)
Mick Fitzgerald is the fifth most successful winning NH jockey of
all time who rode 1,280 UK winners in a career spanning 20 years.
His big race successes include the Grand National, Gold Cup,
Champion Chase, King George VI Chase and Hennessy Gold Cup. Mick
retired due to injury in August 2008 and is now set to pursue a
media career as a presenter for Racing satellite channel ATR
amongst other projects.
Donn McClean is the main writer on racing with the Sunday Times
in Ireland and a columnist with the Irish Field. In 2005 he
assisted Jessica Harrington with her bestselling book on Moscow
Flyer and in 2006 was co-writer of Riding the Storm, with Timmy
Murphy, which sold out in its hardback edition.
Better than Sex by Mick Fitzgerald with Donn McClean was published
on 10th November, priced £18.99 by the Racing Post.
Special Offer
Copies of the book are available to purchase from Lingfield Park at
£13. We also have 100 signed copies available
so call call Sarah Darell-Brown on 01342 831728 now for your chance
to obtain a signed copy!
