The Simple Game:
An Irish Jockey’s Memoir
by Thomas Foley
Foreword by Otto Thorwarth
Caballo Press of Ann Arbor Book, Ann Arbor, Michigan
2010, 163 pages, ISBN-13: 9780982476659
Thomas Foley was an empty-headed (by his account) seventeen-year-old when he came to America from Ireland to pursue a career in jump racing. This month he will be seen by millions of movie goers as he plays the part of Secretariat’s exercise boy in Walt Disney’s long-hyped movie about the great racehorse. Between the two events, which bracket a period of twelve or thirteen years, young Foley has experienced a bit of life.
I read through the book in one sitting—about two-and-a-half hours—and I’m not a particularly fast reader. The thought of putting it down never entered my mind, although much of the story is dark—the hard parts of a jockey’s life: failed relationships, loss of his children’s company, crashes on the racetrack, and, in particular, the destructive anti-digestive habits practiced routinely at the flat tracks. The latter is a recurring theme throughout, tying the narrative’s ups and downs together.
A glimmer of hope stays alive throughout the story as Foley tries, and occasionally succeeds in becoming a better person than he is at any given moment. He credits several well-known horsemen, among them Gregg Ryan and Eddie Graham, with providing good advice at the appropriate times, advice he has remembered and relied upon in difficult moments along the way.
There was the time Foley lied to the race stewards after going off course. Later, Gregg Ryan looked him hard in the eyes and asked, “Is that the kind of man you want to be?” Foley went back to the stewards, told them the truth (which they knew anyway), and never forgot Ryan’s question.
Then there was the time at Bruce Miller’s in Pennsylvania when Foley was completely caught up in his own ambitions. Miller’s assistant Eddie Graham had been treating him cooly until one day Graham finally asked, “Do you get it?”
“Get what?” retorted Foley.
“It’s not about you, man; it’s about them,” said Graham, pointing to the horses. This was another concept that computed in young Foley’s head and one he has come back to time and again.
Foley’s story seesaws between the good and the bad times, the desperate times and the hopeful times, his consuming desire to win races at all costs and his awareness that he has not yet lived the life of the man he wants to be. The kid that grew up in Ireland wanted nothing more than to be a jockey. It all seemed such a simple game. It didn’t turn out to be simple, though, and the ride, though rocky, makes for an intriguing story and a compelling read.
October 1, 2010