Stymie: A Novel in Stories

Home from World War I, Ben Held decides to escape his hometown of Newport, Kentucky, and become a barnstorming race-tracker. Bonnie Dennert, his sweetheart, chooses to stay behind. Years later, they are reunited amid World War II. Ben wants Bonnie back, and tells her of Stymie, the great horse in the stable where he works as a foreman. The novel faithfully follows Stymie’s real-life career. A castoff as a young racer because of his vicious temperament, Stymie endured challenging campaigns to become a beloved horse in New York, where he raced for most of his career. Stymie’s modest beginnings eventually earned him the nickname as ＂The People’s Horse.＂ The stories in STYMIE highlight his early races and his legendary battles with other equine stars of the era, including the great Assault. Eventually the horse is retired and, with Ben, takes up residence at the fictional Galileo Farm in Kentucky.

Andy Plattner, a native of Lexington, Kentucky, has worked as a horse groom, a farm hand, a horse race journalist, and a university professor. His first novel, OFFERINGS FROM A RUST BELT JOCKEY, earned the Mid-Career Novel Prize from Dzanc Books and won the Dr. Tony Ryan Award for best book on thoroughbred racing. His other award-winning titles include WINTER MONEY, TOWER, and DIXIE LUCK. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia.