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The Eighty-Dollar Champion

Snowman, The Horse That Inspired a Nation

Snowman, The Horse That Inspired a Nation

Snowman, The Horse That Inspired a Nation

By Elizabeth Letts

By Elizabeth Letts

By Elizabeth Letts

By Elizabeth Letts

By Elizabeth Letts
Read by Arthur Morey

By Elizabeth Letts
Read by Arthur Morey

Best Seller
Paperback $18.00

May 29, 2012 | ISBN 9780345521095

Ebook $12.99

Aug 23, 2011 | ISBN 9780345521101

Audiobook Download $22.50

Jun 02, 2020 | 683 Minutes

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    The Eighty-Dollar Champion by Elizabeth Letts
    Paperback $18.00
    May 29, 2012 | ISBN 9780345521095

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    • Paperback $18.00

      May 29, 2012 | ISBN 9780345521095

      Buy from Other Retailers:

    Ebook
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    • Ebook

      Aug 23, 2011 | ISBN 9780345521101

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    About The Eighty-Dollar Champion

    #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The dramatic and inspiring story of a man and his horse, an unlikely duo whose rise to stardom in the sport of show jumping captivated the nation  

    Harry de Leyer first saw the horse he would name Snowman on a truck bound for the slaughterhouse. The recent Dutch immigrant recognized the spark in the eye of the beaten-up nag and bought him for eighty dollars. On Harry’s modest farm on Long Island, he ultimately taught Snowman how to fly. Here is the dramatic and inspiring rise to stardom of an unlikely duo. One show at a time, against extraordinary odds and some of the most expensive thoroughbreds alive, the pair climbed to the very top of the sport of show jumping. Their story captured the heart of Cold War–era America—a story of unstoppable hope, inconceivable dreams, and the chance to have it all. They were the longest of all longshots—and their win was the stuff of legend.

    About The Eighty-Dollar Champion

    #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • The dramatic and inspiring story of a man and his horse, an unlikely duo whose rise to stardom in the sport of show jumping captivated the nation  

    Harry de Leyer first saw the horse he would name Snowman on a truck bound for the slaughterhouse. The recent Dutch immigrant recognized the spark in the eye of the beaten-up nag and bought him for eighty dollars. On Harry’s modest farm on Long Island, he ultimately taught Snowman how to fly. Here is the dramatic and inspiring rise to stardom of an unlikely duo. One show at a time, against extraordinary odds and some of the most expensive thoroughbreds alive, the pair climbed to the very top of the sport of show jumping. Their story captured the heart of Cold War–era America—a story of unstoppable hope, inconceivable dreams, and the chance to have it all. They were the longest of all longshots—and their win was the stuff of legend.

    About The Eighty-Dollar Champion

    #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

    November 1958: the National Horse Show at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Into the rarefied atmosphere of wealth and tradition comes the most unlikely of horses—a drab white former plow horse named Snowman—and his rider, Harry de Leyer. They were the longest of all longshots—and their win was the stuff of legend.
     
    Harry de Leyer first saw the horse he would name Snowman on a bleak winter afternoon between the slats of a rickety truck bound for the slaughterhouse. He recognized the spark in the eye of the beaten-up horse and bought him for eighty dollars. On Harry’s modest farm on Long Island, the horse thrived. But the recent Dutch immigrant and his growing family needed money, and Harry was always on the lookout for the perfect thoroughbred to train for the show-jumping circuit—so he reluctantly sold Snowman to a farm a few miles down the road.
     
    But Snowman had other ideas about what Harry needed. When he turned up back at Harry’s barn, dragging an old tire and a broken fence board, Harry knew that he had misjudged the horse. And so he set about teaching this shaggy, easygoing horse how to fly. One show at a time, against extraordinary odds and some of the most expensive thoroughbreds alive, the pair climbed to the very top of the sport of show jumping.
     
    Here is the dramatic and inspiring rise to stardom of an unlikely duo, based on the insight and recollections of “the Flying Dutchman” himself. Their story captured the heart of Cold War–era America—a story of unstoppable hope, inconceivable dreams, and the chance to have it all. Elizabeth Letts’s message is simple: Never give up, even when the obstacles seem sky-high. There is something extraordinary in all of us.

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    Listen to a sample from The Eighty-Dollar Champion

    Also by Elizabeth Letts

    The Ride of Her Life
    My Blue-Ribbon Horse
    The Eighty-Dollar Champion (Adapted for Young Readers)
    The Perfect Horse
    Finding Dorothy
    See all books by Elizabeth Letts

    Also by Elizabeth Letts

    The Ride of Her Life
    My Blue-Ribbon Horse
    The Eighty-Dollar Champion (Adapted for Young Readers)
    The Perfect Horse
    Finding Dorothy
    See all books by Elizabeth Letts

    Also by Elizabeth Letts

    The Ride of Her Life
    My Blue-Ribbon Horse
    The Eighty-Dollar Champion (Adapted for Young Readers)
    The Perfect Horse
    Finding Dorothy
    See all books by Elizabeth Letts

    About Elizabeth Letts

    Elizabeth Letts is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Eighty-Dollar Champion and The Perfect Horse, which won the PEN Center USA Literary Award for research nonfiction, as well as two previous novels, Quality of Care and Family Planning. She lives in Southern California.

    About Elizabeth Letts

    Elizabeth Letts is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Eighty-Dollar Champion and The Perfect Horse, which won the PEN Center USA Literary Award for research nonfiction, as well as two previous novels, Quality of Care and Family Planning. She lives in Southern California.

    About Elizabeth Letts

    Elizabeth Letts is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Eighty-Dollar Champion and The Perfect Horse, which won the PEN Center USA Literary Award for research nonfiction, as well as two previous novels, Quality of Care and Family Planning. She lives in Southern California.

    Product Details

    Category: Science | Biography & Memoir | 20th Century U.S. History

    Paperback | $18.00
    Published by Ballantine Books
    May 29, 2012 | 368 Pages | 5-3/16 x 8 | ISBN 9780345521095

    Category: Science | Biography & Memoir | 20th Century U.S. History

    Ebook | $12.99
    Published by Ballantine Books
    Aug 23, 2011 | 352 Pages | ISBN 9780345521101

    Category: Science | Biography & Memoir | 20th Century U.S. History | Audiobooks

    Audiobook Download | $22.50
    Published by Random House Audio
    Jun 02, 2020 | 683 Minutes | ISBN 9780593286449
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    Praise

    “[A] classic American dream story, with a down-on-its-luck horse galloping in for good measure.”—USA Today
     
    “This is a wonderful book—joyous, heartfelt, and an eloquent reminder that hope can be found in the unlikeliest of places. Most of all, it’s a moving testament to the incredible things that can grow from the bond between animals and humans.”—Gwen Cooper, author of Homer’s Odyssey
     
     “[Elizabeth Letts] details the intricacies of the show world beautifully, [but it’s] the relationship between the people in [Harry’s] life and this remarkable, humble horse that will captivate the reader.”—The Star-Ledger
     
    “The story is thrilling. . . . Letts’s taut, detailed writing vividly recounts the excitement of the shows; the heights these underdogs climbed; the world of the Eisenhower fifties; and what Snowman and Harry meant to the everyday people they inspired.”—Shelf Awareness
     
    “If the true stories of horses Secretariat or Seabiscuit kept you spellbound, then consider leaving the racetrack setting to learn about the equestrian world’s shock in 1958 when an eighty-dollar plow horse arrived to compete in its top show.”—Fayetteville Observer
     
    “Written in evocative, skilled prose that rings true to the tenor of postwar America . . . Letts deftly calibrates the emotion and suspense that are an indelible part of this tale.”—BookPage

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