Amusing and lighthearted mix of racing and philosophy

A Guide to the Classics or How to Pick the Derby Winner by Guy Griffith & Michael Oakeshott
£18, published by Amphora Press – amphorapress.com

You learn something new every day, such as the information in the very first line of A Guide to the Classics: "Nearly 2,000 years ago the poet Ovid wrote: Nec te nobelium fugiat certamen equorum; Never miss a good race meeting."

It is an amusing reference, typical of the book, that adds fresh meaning to the decision of Phil Bull, who rarely missed a chance to insert a Classical reference to his horses' names, to call his mare Orientella's 1966 offspring Ovid, after the great Roman.