Battleship: A Daring Heiress, a Teenage Jockey, and America's Horse
Dorothy Ours
Mar 2025 · Macmillan + ORM
3.3star
7 reviewsreport
Ebook
369
Pages
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About this ebook
Dorothy Ours's Battleship tells the moving story of a tough little horse, a gifted boy, and a woman ahead of her time.
The youngest jockey, the smallest horse, and an unconventional heiress who disliked publicizing herself. Together, near Liverpool, England, they made a leap of faith on a spring day in 1938: overriding the jockey's father, trusting the boy and the horse that the British nicknamed the "American pony" to handle a race course that newspapers called "Suicide Lane." There, Battleship might become the first American racer to win England's monumental, century-old Grand National steeplechase. His rider, Great Britain's Bruce Hobbs, was only 17 years old.
Hobbs started life with an advantage: his father, Reginald, was a superb professional horseman. But Reg Hobbs also made extreme demands, putting Bruce in situations that horrified the boy's mother and sometimes terrified the child. Bruce had to decide just how brave he could stand to be.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the enigmatic Marion duPont grew up at the estate now known as James Madison's Montpelier—the refuge of America's "Father of the Constitution." Rejecting her chance to be a debutante, denied a corporate role because of her gender, Marion chose a pursuit where horses spoke for her.
Taking on the world's toughest race, she would leave her film star husband, Randolph Scott, a continent away and be pulled beyond her own control. With its reach from Lindbergh's transatlantic flight to Cary Grant's Hollywood, Battleship is an epic tale of testing your true worth.
The youngest jockey, the smallest horse, and an unconventional heiress who disliked publicizing herself. Together, near Liverpool, England, they made a leap of faith on a spring day in 1938: overriding the jockey's father, trusting the boy and the horse that the British nicknamed the "American pony" to handle a race course that newspapers called "Suicide Lane." There, Battleship might become the first American racer to win England's monumental, century-old Grand National steeplechase. His rider, Great Britain's Bruce Hobbs, was only 17 years old.
Hobbs started life with an advantage: his father, Reginald, was a superb professional horseman. But Reg Hobbs also made extreme demands, putting Bruce in situations that horrified the boy's mother and sometimes terrified the child. Bruce had to decide just how brave he could stand to be.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the enigmatic Marion duPont grew up at the estate now known as James Madison's Montpelier—the refuge of America's "Father of the Constitution." Rejecting her chance to be a debutante, denied a corporate role because of her gender, Marion chose a pursuit where horses spoke for her.
Taking on the world's toughest race, she would leave her film star husband, Randolph Scott, a continent away and be pulled beyond her own control. With its reach from Lindbergh's transatlantic flight to Cary Grant's Hollywood, Battleship is an epic tale of testing your true worth.
Ratings and reviews
3.3
7 reviews
About the author
A lifelong horse enthusiast, Dorothy Ours grew up in the history-rich states of Virginia and West Virginia. She worked for seven years at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, New York and has been cited for research contributions to several books on Thoroughbred racehorses. Her other fascinations include music, art, and ghost stories.
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