Carter Wins 10th Annual Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award

A dual celebration was held at Castleton Lyons Farm in Lexington Apr. 13, as John Carter won the Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award for Warriors on Horseback: The Inside Story of the Professional Jockey. In addition to rewarding Carter with $10,000 for his work, everyone took time to reflect on the fact it was the award's 10th anniversary.

“I am incredibly overwhelmed, and my night has just gotten more surreal,” said Carter, who was unable to attend in person but participated via live video stream from England. “I think most writers don't write for just the money. It's a labor of love. It is something you do because you care about the subject, and you want to do good work, but it is a great boost when your hard work is recognized and rewarded. The thanks go to the Ryan family.”

Published by Bloomsbury Publishing, Warriors on Horseback takes a look at the lives of jockeys both past and present. While many notable personalities like Frankie Dettori, Bob Champion and Hayley Turner make appearances, so do the names of lesser known day-to-day journeymen.

“One of the driving forces for writing Warriors on Horseback was the thought of why would anybody want to be a jockey,” said Carter, who is a noted British sportswriter and author. “I had done some work in horseracing before and they were clearly fascinating characters, but I struggled to get my head around why anybody would want to be a jockey. I am a pretty logical, rational kind of person, and there is no logical reason why anybody would be a jockey.”

It was one of the lesser known jockeys who helped Carter the most in his quest to find the answers to that question. John Snaith, a jockey in the 1970s and '80s, ended up in a coma for six weeks at the age of 28 after a fall at Aintree. When he woke up, doctors told him he could never ride again.

“Anybody who has done writing and interviewed people knows that just occasionally you come across someone who is a gold nugget, someone who brings it to life for you and whose words carry a lot of meaning,” said Carter. “John was that guy for me. I learned a lot from John. He was an inspiration to me. I got it after that. I got that jockeys are not wired like me. They don't think like me. They are not normal, but they are not normal in a good way. They are thrill seekers and they love the adrenaline, they love horses, and they are just different.

“The greatest accolade that I've had is that the people who I have written about, the jockeys, have felt that the book has done them justice. They are special people, and they deserve to be publicized for the work that they do.”

Carter's work was one of two finalists that took a deeper look into the lives of jockeys. The other was Ride to Win: An Inside Look at the Jockey's Craft by Bob Fortus and Gary West. Turning for Home by Natalie Keller Reinert was the third finalist honored at the event, and her fictional work focused on the timely topic of re-training racehorses when they are ready for a second career.

The judges for the award were last year's winner Andy Plattner, broadcast journalist Caton Bredar, and Kay Coyte, who retired in August 2015 as managing editor of The Washington Post News Service.

The late Dr. Ryan, who founded Irish-based airline Ryanair and Castleton Lyons, established the Castleton Lyons-Thoroughbred Times Book Award in 2006. He died the following year, and the competition was renamed in 2008 to honor him.

“It's our 10th anniversary, and we are delighted to have sponsored this for 10 years,” said Shane Ryan, who is the president of Castleton Lyons and Dr. Ryan's son. “This was obviously something my father originally thought of. He was a major fan of books and stories. At the end of the day, this is something for him. It is great that it is 10 years and $100,000 later.”