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"May be the most fascinating untold sports story in American history."--Charles Osgood, anchor, "CBS News Sunday Morning"

"Winkfield's story is so incredible you'll find yourself wondering why you've never heard it before."--MSNBC

"Winkfield's life (is) an unbelievable ride."--ESPN

"For once, a book's breathless subtitle is accurate."--"The Washington Post"

"This is the stuff of great nonfiction."--Douglas Brinkley, author of "Tour of Duty: John Kerry and the Vietnam War"

In 1904, at age twenty-three, two-time Kentucky Derby-winner Jimmy Winkfield was forced from American horseracing by a virulent combination of racism and hard times. Wink left his beloved Kentucky, bought a steamer ticket for Europe, and made the world his racetrack.

There he embarked on a decades-long odyssey, rising to superstardom and winning and losing two fortunes. Driven at gunpoint from Russia by the Bolshevik Army and from France by Nazi occupiers, the 105-pound jockey proved himself the most resilient, courageous athlete of the twentieth century. In 2005, Winkfield was inducted into America's horse racing Hall of Fame.

Winkfield achieved a human greatness that transcends the limits of sport. In "Wink", Ed Hotaling tells this wonderful story--this American story--in all its rich and vibrant power.

Ed Hotaling is the nation's preeminent authority on early American horse racing. A recent Emmy-winning reporter for the NBC television station in Washington, D.C., he is the author of "They're Off! Horse Racing atSaratoga" and "The Great Black Jockeys".