Blown: The Incredible Story of John Goldsmith: Racehorse Trainer, Gambler and Wartime Secret Agent

An English racehorse trainer and horse dealer's son, John Goldsmith was born and brought up in Paris and spoke fluent French. In 1942 he was recruited in to the legendary Special Operations Executive, or SOE, and dropped three times behind enemy lines. On each of these missions he drew on the reserves of nerve and guile that he had acquired in the horse racing world. In 1943 he organized the escape of a French air force general across the Pyrenees but a few months later he was caught by the Gestapo in Paris only to engineer his own getaway from a locked third floor hotel room. By the end of the war he had been awarded the DSO, MC, Croix de Guerre and Legion d'Honneur. Resuming his peacetime occupation in 1946 Goldsmith was sent numerous French racehorses to train. Goldsmith found uncanny similarities between the secret agent's milieu and the black market world of Britain's post war racetracks and, in partnership with a high stakes Mayfair bookie, he orchestrated some of the most audacious betting coups in racing history.

Author: Jamie Reid
Publisher: Racing Post Books
Published: 12/01/2015
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 1.15lbs
Size: 9.30h x 6.10w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9781910498064

About the Author
Jamie Reid is the author of the acclaimed non-fiction books "Doped" (Winner of the 2013 William Hill Sports Book Award), "A Licence To Print Money "(short listed for the 1992 William Hill Sports Book of the Year award), "Days Like These: The Education of a Racing Lover" and "Emperors Of The Turf "as well as the novels "Easy Money" and" Home On The Range." A lifelong racing enthusiast he is also a journalist and regular columnist for the "Financial Times." He has also written for the "Guardia"n, "The Independent On Sunday," "Harpers & Queen," "the New Statesman," " Money Observer" and "Private Eye."


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