Quizzers and form students should rejoice at this pair of Christmas crackers

The Racing Post Quiz Book Volume 2 by Mart Matthews
£9.99, Pitch Publishing

This Christmas there will be no shortage of publications testing the racing aficionado's knowledge of the sport, but it is unlikely they will approach the extraordinary level of research employed by Mart Matthews in compiling this book.

Matthews does not ask questions designed to bring about a high-scoring dead-heat among those sitting around the home fire or the pub table. He makes it a proper test and, before stepping in to back yourself at cramped odds, you might consider how close you are to recalling which area of London won the 1839 Derby and the name of the 1854 winner.

The author offers a clue to the latter: it's also a place in Hampshire noted for producing the pop group the Troggs. You'll back Andover now, yes? And you'll be right, pending an anxious check of the record books.

Blind loyalty will not help committed Gooners fans because the area of London isn't Highbury (one of four options), it's Bloomsbury. No problem, there are 998 other questions and some are easier. A bit, anyway.

Matthews is fond of Brighton and quiz number 80 is entitled 'Oh I do like to be beside the seaside'. The Queen won the Brighton Trophy in 1991 and 1992 with Talent and Set The Fashion but who trained them both? A titled person, perhaps? Lord Huntingdon, well done and a bonus point if you knew he was also known as William Hastings-Bass.

The book is divided into 100 sections and there is wry humour everywhere. Quotes is number 85. Which Rolling Stone said his favourite horse was Never Say Die "when we first saw the genius of Lester Piggott"? Mick? Keith? Charlie? No, it was Ronnie Wood.

You couldn't put this book together without countless hours of research. A dry, droll obsessive with an abiding passion for detail, Matthews has produced a superb follow-up to his first Racing Post quiz book from 2019.

And it really doesn't matter if you don't know many of the answers –you'll still love the questions.
Ian Carnaby

The Racing Post Quiz Book Volume 2 can be purchased in the Racing Post shop

The Cheltenham Trail: A Modern Form Book 2022 by Andy Gibson
£36, thecheltenhamtrail.co.uk

Andy Gibson's latest labour of love is a book filled with pearls of wisdom – and given it contains well over 500 pages, there are very many pearls indeed.

This third edition of The Cheltenham Trail: A Modern Form Book delivers an extremely readable reminder of what happened during the core months of the 2021-22 jumps campaign but also includes a series of fascinating angles that can be exploited over the coming months and well beyond.

The bulk of the hardback volume is made up of race previews and reviews that were published at the time. Individual horses are assessed both before and after each performance, meaning their stories develop alongside that of the season.

A perfect example of Gibson's in-depth approach can be seen in how he breaks down Thomas Darby's victory in the 2021 Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury. Using time comparisons with the course-and-distance handicap hurdle staged later on the card, the author highlights how the pacesetters in the Grade 2 simply went too fast, leaving Thomas Darby with an opportunity that was hard to squander.

Across the final pages, Gibson gives readers more of what he is perhaps best known for, namely strategies and systems, but there is also mature commentary on wider themes, including Irish domination at the Cheltenham Festival, about which Gibson writes: "The one thing certain about any cycle is that it will have a beginning and an end. It will then be replaced by another cycle, trend or pattern and the next one will appear to be just as robust as the current one – before it drifts away to be replaced by the next one."

This book also has a beginning and an end. There is lots to like about what comes in between.
Lee Mottershead

The Cheltenham Trail: A Modern Form Book can be bought by emailing info@thecheltenhamtrail.co.uk

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A magnificently crafted ode to another glorious year of racing

The Racing Post Annual 2023 is here! Look back on a star-studded year in this fabulous 208-page book packed with the best stories and pictures. The perfect gift at £19.99. Order from racingpost.com/shop or call 01933 304858 now!