---The Midwest Book Review
| Authors |
| The Simple Game Written by Thomas Foley Introduction by Otto Thorwarth Book Details Full Color Cover Jacket Size: 6" x 9" Pages: 175 12 Black and White Photographs Hardback ISBN: 978-09824766-5-9 Also Available as an E-Book ABOUT THIS BOOK The Simple Game: An Irish Jockey's Memoir is an honest and emotional account of author and professional jockey Thomas Foley's struggle to recapture his passion for the sport and the horses that came to define his life. Starting with his dream of becoming a jockey, Foley takes us with him on his journey across the Atlantic, and allows us to witness firsthand his failed marriage and troubled relationship with his sons. In a sport where a jockey seldom admits to his weaknesses, Foley openly reveals his struggle with bulimia and sleeping pills, as well as his constant search for love and meaning in his life. Foley opens the door to his soul and invites us all to learn from his mistakes and triumphs. Written with true Irish wit and the "voice" of a seasoned author, Foley's The Simple Game will leave you feeling as if you've known him your entire life. ABOUT THE AUTHOR Thomas Foley is an Irish immigrant who arrived in America when he was seventeen years old. His mother, father and two sisters still live in Ireland. He is the father of three boys, Robert, Daniel and Kieran. His memoir, The Simple Game: An Irish Jockey's Memoir, is his first book. He has ridden as a professional jockey both on the flat and steeplechasing for over thirteen years. In his first full year as a professional jockey, he was the leading money-winning apprentice in steeplechasing and the third leading money winner overall. After spending the last three years riding on the flat, he has returned to riding over jumps and trying to get back to the reason he became a jockey in the first place... the horses. In 2010, Foley was cast in the role of Jimmy Gaffney in Walt Disney movie based on the life of Secretariat. He currently lives on a farm outside Baltimore, Maryland. ABOUT OTTO THORWARTH Otto Thorwarth, the author of the foreword to The Simple Game, is a retired professional jockey, who co-stared with Diane Lane and John Malkovich in Walt Disney Studio’s feature film Secretariat. Thorwarth played the role of Ron Turcotte, Secretariat's go-to jockey. He grew up in Hot Springs, Arkansas, the home of Oaklawn Park Race Track. He came up under trainer Frank Brothers and after graduating from high school, Brothers sent him to a farm in Texas. While there, Thorwarth learned to ride horses by training two-year-old Thoroughbreds. Following this “apprenticeship,” Thorwarth started riding professionally at Oaklawn Park in 1991, where he won his first race on his first mount at thirty-to-one odds! He rode all across the Midwest and East coast, and eventually concentrated his career in Kentucky and Ohio, where he accumulated four riding titles. After winning nearly fifteen hundred races, he retired from riding upon landing the role of Ron Turcotte. Bitten by the acting bug, Thorwarth is currently pursuing a career in acting and writing. He resides in his home town of Hot Springs, Arkansas, with his wife of eleven years and their two daughters. PRAISE FOR THE SIMPLE GAME "The pressure on the jockey is one of the most underplayed burdens in professional sports. The Simple Game: An Irish Jockey's Memoir is a memoir of how Thomas Foley's dreams of racing horses were soon corrupted. Focusing on the pressures a jockey faces, one where weight is a curse and being light as possible is treasured as a boon, Foley faced an eating disorder and fell into addictions, and lost his family. A cautionary tale to watch what you're willing to sacrifice for success. The Simple Game is quite the read, very highly recommended." The Midwest Book Review "From wide-eyed apprentice, to big fish in the small pond of US jump racing, to burnt-out wreck teetering on physical and mental ledges, Thomas Foley reflects on a life lived fast and often heedless in his memoir, A Simple Game.... In it he frankly recounts everything, from the emotional turmoil that sent him down the path to bulimia to the tragicomic circumstances of his confrontation of the problem." Kevin Corbett, Irish Independent "In an engrossing, conversational prose... Foley’s memoir is a fun truthful and sometimes painfully revealing account of his life. From his first experience with horses as a boy spending a summer on his cousin’s farm near his home in Tipperary to his coming to terms with divorce and overcoming his addiction demons, Foley pulls no punches. Foley’s professional riding career may have ended last year as he watched an injured horse vanned off the track after giving him everything he had. But from all accounts, for a horseman who has many opinions about how things should be done the right way, the former rider-turned-trainer still has much to give to a game that remains dear to his heart. Thoroughbred racing stands to gain from the likes of Tom Foley. That book is just beginning to be written." Jeff Brammer, Frederick News-Post "Tom Foley is honest, real--a no-holds-barred writer--which is the manner in which I suspect he lives his life. His book, The Simple Game: An Irish Jockey's Memoir touched me in a way that compelled me to read from out of the gate to the finish line. He writes with such insight and sensitivity regarding horses that I liked immediately. Anyone who cares so deeply and writes with Wisdom as his guide is someone I need to know--readers will want to meet the man behind the book from the first page of his brutally beautiful book." Marion E. Altieri, Mairzy Doats, author, columnist “Thomas Foley has written a powerful and often disturbing memoir that sheds light on the darker side of a jockey’s world and the sport of thoroughbred racing, in which the quest to win oftentimes comes at a high price.” Linda Dougherty, The Horse of Delaware Valley "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. 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." Norman Fine, Foxhunting Life With Horse and Hound "... The Simple Game is a name born of ironic humor, the gift of a man who became but a skeleton of himself - both emotionally and physically - in an effort to reach what he thought would bring him true happiness: winning, pure and simple.... Indeed, The Simple Game reads like a stream-of-consciousness therapy session: Foley opens his story by acknowledging the dangerous daily routine of 'flipping' (binging and purging to maintain weight) and then reaches back to try and figure out how he came to such a miserable state. In therapy, 'naming' the addiction is the first step in defeating it; here, Foley admits the addiction always will be with him (as an alcoholic always wants a drink), but he has now chosen to place more value on his life, his health, and his family, than on the momentary thrill of victory. It is the simple life of a man, perhaps, rather than the simple game he knew as a child, that now defines Thomas Foley." Audrey Korotkin, Two Time Eclipse Award Winner and the First Executive Director of Triple Crown Productions ORDER THIS BOOK AT A LOCAL BOOKSTORE Neighborhood Stores: To find a neighborhood bookstore near you, Caballo Press of Ann Arbor recommends SuperPages.com's Book Dealer search page. 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