Lady Eve's Indiscretion (37 page)
Read Lady Eve's Indiscretion Online
Authors: Grace Burrowes
The history of horse racing in England goes back at least to the Crusades, when returning knights brought the quick, intelligent, and hardy desert horses back to breed with local stock. The last Thoroughbred foundation sire was born in 1724, and by the 1800s, the Thoroughbred stud book traced the lineage of every horse racing officially in England back to the three foundation sires.
In the 1750s, the Jockey Club arose as an elite social club centered on the sport of racing. As part of its mission, the club propounded racing rules that were soon adopted by all of the major competitive courses. Women did not ride in these officially sanctioned races, though in informal meets, they did ride in Lady's Cup races. In some of those races, women participated as owners; in others they rode their mounts, resulting in contests where male jockeys competed in fields that included lady riders.
To this day, even at the Olympic level, women compete against men in the equestrian sportsâand often emerge as the victors.
I'm indebted to author Emery Lee (The Highest Stakes, Fortune's Son) for providing background regarding British racing history. Though her books are works of fiction, they include myriad marvelous details that will fascinate the true aficionado of “the sport of kings.”
I didn't aspire to start my writing career with an eight-book series, but here we are, at the end of the seventh Windham family story, and Lady Jenny's story already in the works. The people who've contributed to and supported this accomplishment are too numerous to mention. How about I try anyway, because saying thanks is one of the best parts of being published.
Big thanks:
To my editor, Deb Werksman, who knows just how to buff the shine on the good ones, and how to send the not-yet-good-enough ones back to me for more work.
To my production editor, Skye, who has the gene for catching what everybody else misses, and is so nice about it.
To Susie, who is the goddess of the calendar, among many other unsung duties, and always so pleasant to deal with.
To Cat, another friend to every book I've written, and more of the glue holding both good spirits and successful production together.
To Danielle, the standard-bearer who truly believes in the books and authors fortunate enough to have her as their publicist.
To Gail, my copy editor, who probably goes to sleep at night praying to The Almighty that Grace Burrowes will please stop abusing the word nor.
To the rest of the team, in marketing, bookmaking, accounting, and every other Sourcebooks department. I have never met a nicer, more hard working, professional group of people.
To my agents, Steve and Kevan, who are always just a phone call away, no matter what obscure question I'm obsessing over.
And also to my publisher, Dominique Raccah. I don't know of any other tadpole author who can turn in a manuscript secure in the knowledge that if the rest of us can't figure out quite what's amiss with the book, the publisher herself will stay up late some night and pore over the story page by page. To have this much support is a blessing of significant magnitude, and bodes wonderfully for all the sequels, spin-offs, and prequels we have planned for the Windham family and their friends.
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