Duel for the Crown ─ Affirmed, Alydar, and Racing's Greatest Rivalry

"A gripping look at the great duel between Affirmed, the last horse to win the Triple Crown--comprised of the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and the Belmont Stakes--and his archrival, Alydar. More than sixteen million Americans watched the 2013 Kentucky Derby, and the three Triple Crown races combined drew more than thirty million viewers. But most people might not realize that it's been thirty-five years since one horse won the US Triple Crown--Affirmed was the last horse to win, in 1978. Now, in Duel for the Crown, the stirring rivalry between Affirmed and Alydar, two horseracing legends, is brought to vivid life with the rich detail it deserves. Alydar was horseracing royalty, while Affirmed grew up on a backwoods Florida farm. But scrappy Affirmed held off Alydar by an ever-narrowing margin to win each of the three races in the Triple Crown. These two horses and their epic battle are horseracing's crowning glory. In the bestselling tradition of Seabiscuit, this book tells the tale of two Thoroughbreds along with their respective owners, trainers, and jockeys in an ever-intensifying battle of wills and wits. With a cast of human connections as colorful as the horses themselves, Duel for the Crown is a galloping ride as fast and exciting as the actual races"--

Throughout her two decades as a nationally respected health and fitness writer, Linda?Carroll has mastered the art of making complex subjects entertaining and accessible for the average reader. She has written for a wide range of prominent publications, including The New York Times, SmartMoney, Health, and MSNBC.com. Currently, she is a contract writer for NBC News, covering health and business. An accomplished equestrian, Carroll brings more than thirty years of experience in breeding, training, and showing horses. For the past two decades, she has owned and operated Fiery Run Farm, where she has hands-on control of breeding and training her twelve Arabian and Oldenburg sport horses. For more information, visit the farm’s website at FieryRunFarm.com.

For three decades, David Rosner has worked as a sportswriter at major metro newspapers and national magazines. As an award-winning staff writer at Newsday in New York, he spent twelve years covering the full gamut of pro sports—including horse racing. He has covered racing since the spring of ’77 when his first bylined stories as a cub reporter chronicled the harrowing Belmont spill that hospitalized the teen sensation Steve Cauthen. Rosner earned national Associated Press Sports Editors Association awards for investigative reporting and for deadline writing as well as New York State AP and UPI awards for enterprise journalism. He also served as editor-in-chief of the national hockey magazine Rinkside and coauthored The Official Illustrated NHL History.