First published in 1905, the book was created as the definitive manual for polo, explaining its origins and rules, offering strategic advice, and reflecting on what might be to come. Dale's instructions and observations are just as relevant today. Once called the 'Sport of Kings', the fast and furious game of polo has a long and varied history. Originating in Persia, the popularity of the game spread to North America, China and the Indian sub-continent, where it was picked up by the British Raj. It is now played professionally in many countries and continues to inspire as a sport celebrating the alliance between human and horse, as enjoyable to observe with a drink in hand as it is in which to participate. The book looks at the Hurlingham and Ranelagh clubs and their influence and expansion on the sport, the growth of polo in London and the provinces, regimental polo, the training of the pony, tournament and team play, umpires and referees, stable management and breeding, appliances and expenses and suggestions on handicapping. Finally the Rules of Polo in England. 256pp, archive photos.

From the excellent Haynes Guides stable, whether you be a punter or admire the athleticism of the horse, this excellent guide covers types of racing on the flat, jump racing and all weather racing, materials used in all-weather tracks, Arabian racing, quarter horse racing before looking in detail at distinct breeds known as the Thoroughbred which can be traced back to the turn of the 18th century in Britain. Everything changed with the arrival of horses from the regions of Syria and Yemen which were first brought back as presents for nobility. Read about the diminutive Canadian-bred horse the Northern Dancer who won both the prestigious Kentucky Derby and Preakness in 1964 and who must be considered just as important to the whole Flat Racing Thoroughbred as the Arabian founding fathers. In a double page beautiful photograph every part of the horse is labelled so that we understand its physique and facts, colours, prominent markings on his head, drug testing, performance issues, injuries and then a wonderful round-up of famous horses from the Irish chaser Arkle considered the greatest Jumps horse of all time, Seabiscuit, Red Rum with three Grand National wins in 1973,74 and 77, Frankel, Sprinter Sacre and Phar Lap. Learn about stables, the trainer, teaching a horse to race, daily regime, the gallops and hearty exercise, feeding, the kit like heads gear and cheek pieces, training aids like the Water Walker, transport. Then we look at becoming a jockey and their kit and training, ownership, the breeding, buying a horse, breaking in and then going racing and choosing from the 1,500 racecourse venues in the UK. Covers the odds, the weighing room, the rules, picking a winner, becoming a bookmaker and all about the betting shop, racing in the rest of the world and all with stats and gorgeous colour photos throughout. Plus a useful jargon buster. Maps. 188 large pages. 8½" x 11".

Glory never dies. Neely Crenshaw was the best quarterback ever to play for the Messina Spartans, the state's most legendary high school football team. 15 years later with the glory days far behind them, the man everyone remembers is Coach Eddie Rake. Neely is coming home to Messina to bury the dying Coach Rake, and he's not alone. One by one the veterans of the Spartans return to pay tribute to the man who moulded them into an invincible football dynasty, confronting their own broken dreams. As Coach Rake's 'boys' sit in the bleachers waiting for the dimming field lights to signal his passing, they replay the old glories, and try to decide once and for all whether they love Eddie Rake, or hate him. Neely Crenshaw is struggling to come to terms with his explosive relationship with the Coach, his dreams of a great career in the NFL, and the choices he made as a young man, before he can get on with his life, and the stakes are especially high. 'An easy going, but not over-sentimental read, Grisham touches the soul and scores a winning touchdown with his 16th novel.' - Evening Standard. 181pp, paperback reprint of the 2001 original.

Author Danny Rhodes was at Hillsborough on 15th April 1989, and he has donated a percentage of the profits of this book to the memory of the Hillsborough 96. His novel is set in 1989. 18 year old John Finch spends his Saturdays following Nottingham Forest up and down the country, and the rest of the week trudging the streets of his hometown as a postal worker. His blossoming relationship with girlfriend Jen is his only other respite. In 2004, he spends his days teaching in a southern secondary school while delaying the inevitable onslaught of parenthood. Leading inexorably towards the FA Cup semi-final at Hillsborough, and the worst sporting disaster in British history, this book glides between 1989 and 2004, when the true impact of this tragic day becomes evident. The book is about personal and collective tragedy, about growing up and not growing up, about manhood and about what makes a man and about football's role in reflecting a society never more than a brick's throw away from shattering point. Dark, haunting and deeply personal, the novel explodes with gut-wrenching emotion and exposes how disaster can affect a life and change its course forever. Written with the same clear sighted emotional honesty and good pace of his previous novels. 362pp, paperback.

Winner of the Sports Book of the Year 2018 this is the most definitive biography of Muhammad Ali that has ever been published, based on more than 500 interviews with those who knew him best and with many dramatic new discoveries about his life and career. Chapter headings include Cassius Marcellus Clay, The Loudest Child, Phantom Punch, Exile, Martyr, The Five Million Dollar Match, Ali v. Frazier and Getting Old. When the frail, trembling figure of Muhammad Ali lit the Olympic flame in Atlanta in 1996, three billion people were once again gripped by the story of the world's most famous sporting icon. The man who had once been reviled for his refusal to fight for his country and for his fast-talking denunciation of his opponents was now almost universally adored, the true cost of his astonishing boxing career clear to see. Jonathan Eig's ground-breaking biography takes us not only inside the ring for some of the most famous bouts in boxing history, but also to find out about Ali's personal life, finances, faith and the moments when the first signs of his physical decline began to show. Ali was a symbol of freedom and courage, a hero to many, but this is also a very personal story of a warrior who vanquished every opponent, but was finally brought down by his own stubborn refusal to quit. A richly researched, sympathetic and unsparing portrait of a controversial figure, the familiar is glanced from a new perspective in Eig's fluent prose. 24 pages of black and white photos at the end, 623pp in softback.

Reading like a Cold War thriller, this is probably the biggest story in football of the last decade, the shocking ugly underside of the beautiful game. One anonymous football fan, 18.6 million confidential documents, here is the explosive story of the shady underworld of modern football. In 2016 a whistler-blower known only as 'John' began leaking a treasure trove of top-secret files, revealing the clandestine dealings of clubs, players and agents at the highest levels of international football. From the eye-popping details of player transfers and fees to loopholes and opaque tax structures than ensure maximum earnings, this is a tale of rapacious greed and dodgy deals and also at the same time a gripping story of a fan who wanted to free football from corruption, but finds himself on the run. Sunday Times: 'Reveals the extraordinary add-ons Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and the two Manchester clubs have been willing to pay in their pursuit of supremacy... An insane and frankly obscene world.' 314pp, paperback.

With extended interviews from the BBC film, here is the tragic, dramatic and unmissable story of Formula One's killer years when the sport was out of control. In the 1960s and early 1970s mechanical failure, lethal track design, fire and incompetence led to dozens of brave young drivers losing their lives, with the grisly spectacle often televised for millions to see. With boycotts of the prestigious Belgian and German Grands Prix, drivers fought to get their voices heard, but it would be a long and painful time before conditions changed. Featuring many famous drivers including three World Champions Emerson Fittipaldi, Sir Jackie Stewart and John Surtees OBE, renowned filmmaker John L. Matthews goes to the heart of those deadly years, telling the story in the words of the men who were there. On Jochen's accident at Monza: 'Jochen said he refused to change to the Lotus 72 which was the new car and that was when he had the accident.' 'He was not, of course, but they would not let me into the ambulance and he was taken away, to work on him. There was a hospital transporter, but the law didn't allow that to be used. He had to be taken into hospital, which was ridiculous. Maybe he could have been saved.' Jochen became the first posthumous World Champion. 160pp, paperback.

It was in 1989 that Sachin Tendulkar first appeared in Wisden, the book's 126th edition. From the time he scored his first Test century at the age of 17 at Old Trafford, through to his final innings at the Wankhede in his home city of Mumbai, Tendulkar built a connection with fans that has never been matched. This marvellous anthology gives readers the chance to step back and relive a career that provided joy to millions in a comprehensive collection of the best writing on Tendulkar from all Wisden publications featuring tributes, career highlights, his ten best innings, notable scorecards, interviews and pieces from his peers, including Rahul Dravid and Allan Donald. 'At Perth, aged 18, he was so courageous and skilful while taking on a bullying five-man pace attack in a sparkling century that Richie Benaud lamented there weren't at least a hundred thousand at the stadium. At Cape Town in 1996, his 169 made a dire situation and a dark series worth the pain. At Chennai in 1998, his assault on Shane Warne elevated a cricket battle to something higher, as those present will doubtless tell their grandchildren. He could make life worth living.' Chapters cover the World Cups 1992-2011 and the Captaincy Conundrum. 248pp, 16 pages of colour photos, plenty of stats.

By their reminiscing, the people who bring this book to life reflect the late Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth's disposition in all turf matters. Invariably smiling when on the racecourse she was also, as Sir Peter O'Sulleven memorably describes, 'a very human being' behind the scenes. No account of her involvement would be complete without a brisk gallop through her six decades of patronage. Racing's twin bedfellows of triumph and disaster are regular themes as are the interplay between Her Majesty and some of racing's well-known players. Her horsewoman's instinct is manifest in subtle ways. Her former trainer Ian Balding averred that she never wore scent when visiting the stables, since perfume is prone to 'stir up' excitable colts. Her Majesty's diary was drawn up in outline 18 months in advance, and in detail six months ahead. Every year six days were ring-fenced - the five days of Royal Ascot, and Derby Day at Epsom. This beautifully illustrated volume shows her time spent with Thoroughbreds and the myriad human characters in the sport. Contributors include racing advisor John Warren, the Royal Mews Manager and Stud Groom Terry Pendry, the Royal Studs' Manager Joe Grimwade, and former director Sir Michael Oswald and his wife Lady Angela (who served a mean lunch). Then there are the trainers past and present, former jockeys like Willie Snaith, stable lad Peter 'Caz' Williams, and racing stalwarts like Clare Balding, the TV presenter. We meet the men and horses the late Her Majesty has known, the race courses, Carlton House's narrow defeat at Epsom 2011 and on the morning of her Coronation in 1953 heard that her horse Aureole had completed his Derby preparation with a pleasing gallop in Newmarket earlier that morning. He was in rude health as the Queen contemplated what lay ahead. There is the golden decade of the 50s, the barren decade of the 60s, the twin peaks of Highclere and Dunfermline, West Ilsley and Frankie Dettori at Epson in 1993 with Height Of Fashion in full cry pictured winning the 1981 May Hill Stakes at Doncaster under Joe Mercer. Dozens of never-before-seen photographs in both colour and black and white throughout this superbly well illustrated 256 page in-depth account of Her Majesty's pleasure.

'Why me? How could a boy from a Copenhagen tower block say I want to be champion with Manchester United and Denmark and make it happen?' Frank and conversational in tone, honest and unsentimental, this is the biography of Peter Schmeichel and his exceptionally successful goalkeeping career alongside the remarkable story of a family. Schmeichel is a giant of football who won more Premier League titles (five) than any player in his position, and captained Manchester United in the incomparable, last gasp Treble, clinching a win over Bayern Munich in the 1999 Champions League final. In his book he takes us inside the remarkable, winning environment of a club that transformed football during the 1990s, and on to the pitch on that crazy, breathless night in Barcelona in 1999. From Sir Alex Ferguson's unique gifts, to Eric Cantona's unique personality, he delivers a close-up and insightful portrait of United's Golden era. But the biography goes way beyond the pitch. Schmeichel has an incredible family story to tell, starting with his father, Antoni, a brilliant Polish jazz musician who battled demons and for years kept a momentous secret from those around him. And he explores what he has been able to pass on to his own son, Kasper, himself a Premier League-winning goalkeeper and number one in the Danish national side. Schmeichel won ten league titles, three FA Cups and nine other major trophies in a club career spanning 19 years, 748 games and 10 goals - no ordinary goalkeeper. Ferguson paid just £505,000 to sign him in 1991, and hailed him as 'The bargain of the century'. 400 page paperback, many photos including colour.