The Chosen Few: A quest to name the ten greatest Australian and New Zealand racehorses of all time
Sep 2025 · Allen & Unwin
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About this ebook
Who are the greatest Australian race horses? And what qualifies them for this honour? Racing enthusiast and award-winning writer Andrew Rule has the answers.
They are the greatest Australian and New Zealand racehorses of all time, the giants who transcend the sport, who broke records and captured hearts.
But which are the best of the best? Is it Carbine or Malua from the nineteenth century or Tulloch or Phar Lap in the twentieth? Winx or Black Caviar in our own time? Perhaps it is impossible to compare incomparables outside their own eras.
Andrew Rule was too big to be a jockey, too small to be a mounted policeman. But all his life he has watched horses and horse people and has written about both. About people who are not always admirable and about horses who so often are.
The horses he names in The Chosen Few include the sprinters, the stayers, the freakish all-round competitors who could do everything. But he also teases out myths and mistakes, pulls focus on racing's history and ponders the tantalising list of 'coodabeen' champions whose careers were cut short.
The result is a collection of stories about beauty and bravery, speed and greed.
'Irresistible for lovers of horse racing; essential for anyone interested in the eminence of the horse in Australian history and the human heart.' Don Watson
'I've read many books about champion racehorses, but this is one of the very few written by a champion writer.' Gerald Murnane
'To not only choose, but write entertainingly and informatively about Australia and New Zealand's top racehorses of all times, is no small ambition. Andrew Rule's writing is a flat-out gallop of detail and description, as he defeats all possible obstacles on his way to the winning post. Rule gives us the history of 10 magnificent horses, including the much-beloved Phar Lap, Winx and Black Caviar. The Chosen Few is full of characters, both four-legged, and two-legged. What I love most about this book is that it shows, with diamond-edged clarity, how much horses bred to run fast, love it. These great horses were given the chance to truly shine, and our history is the more colourful for their presence on the planet. I can highly recommend this book for anyone who loves horses or racing.' Candida Baker
'Household names of the turf brought vividly to life by horseman and writer Andrew Rule.' Gerard Whateley
They are the greatest Australian and New Zealand racehorses of all time, the giants who transcend the sport, who broke records and captured hearts.
But which are the best of the best? Is it Carbine or Malua from the nineteenth century or Tulloch or Phar Lap in the twentieth? Winx or Black Caviar in our own time? Perhaps it is impossible to compare incomparables outside their own eras.
Andrew Rule was too big to be a jockey, too small to be a mounted policeman. But all his life he has watched horses and horse people and has written about both. About people who are not always admirable and about horses who so often are.
The horses he names in The Chosen Few include the sprinters, the stayers, the freakish all-round competitors who could do everything. But he also teases out myths and mistakes, pulls focus on racing's history and ponders the tantalising list of 'coodabeen' champions whose careers were cut short.
The result is a collection of stories about beauty and bravery, speed and greed.
'Irresistible for lovers of horse racing; essential for anyone interested in the eminence of the horse in Australian history and the human heart.' Don Watson
'I've read many books about champion racehorses, but this is one of the very few written by a champion writer.' Gerald Murnane
'To not only choose, but write entertainingly and informatively about Australia and New Zealand's top racehorses of all times, is no small ambition. Andrew Rule's writing is a flat-out gallop of detail and description, as he defeats all possible obstacles on his way to the winning post. Rule gives us the history of 10 magnificent horses, including the much-beloved Phar Lap, Winx and Black Caviar. The Chosen Few is full of characters, both four-legged, and two-legged. What I love most about this book is that it shows, with diamond-edged clarity, how much horses bred to run fast, love it. These great horses were given the chance to truly shine, and our history is the more colourful for their presence on the planet. I can highly recommend this book for anyone who loves horses or racing.' Candida Baker
'Household names of the turf brought vividly to life by horseman and writer Andrew Rule.' Gerard Whateley
Who are the greatest Australian race horses? And what qualifies them for this honour? Racing enthusiast and award-winning writer Andrew Rule has the answers.
They are the greatest Australian and New Zealand racehorses of all time, the giants who transcend the sport, who broke records and capture...
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About the author
Andrew Rule is an award-winning reporter who can find the story behind the story and then write it using the techniques of a novelist. He is known for writing on crime and its detection but has also covered big sporting events from the London Olympics to the Melbourne Cup, war zones in Afghanistan and international disasters such as the Christchurch earthquake, Japan's tsunami and the Bali bombing. He has worked for three major daily newspapers and a national magazine, has written many books and is currently an Associate Editor of the Herald Sun in Melbourne.
He grew up with horses, has hung around stables and has had a lifelong weakness for racing. He claims to be the only Australian Journalist of the Year to have ridden in a horse race.
He grew up with horses, has hung around stables and has had a lifelong weakness for racing. He claims to be the only Australian Journalist of the Year to have ridden in a horse race.
Andrew Rule is an award-winning reporter who can find the story behind the story and then write it using the techniques of a novelist. He is known for writing on crime and its detection but has also covered big sporting events from the London Olympics to the Melbourne Cup, war zones in Afghanista...
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