{"title":"Declan Colley","description":null,"products":[{"product_id":"mouse-morris-book-declan-colley-9781905172856","title":"Mouse Morris","description":"'This is no surprise, we certainly weren't here for the beer.'  Mouse's reaction to Hear the Echo's Irish Grand National Victory in March 2008.  Horse racing is renowned for colour, characters and wealth. Michael 'Mouse' Morris, third son of Michael and Sheila Morris, better known as Lord and Lady Killanin, is one of the most colourful characters in Irish horse racing today.  Mouse's formal education ended when he was diagnosed as dyslexic aged fifteen. After working at a racing stables, he joined Willie O'Grady's yard in Tipperary as its amateur jockey. He teamed up with Edward O'Grady to win the Foxhunter's Chase at Cheltenham, the first of many successes for both at the festival. Mouse turned professional in 1975 and his many wins included two Champion Chases at Cheltenham and the Irish Grand National. His career as a jockey unravelled on a chilly November day in 1977 in Carolina when he suffered a crushing fall riding in the Colonial Cup. However, it propelled him into training where he has been prominent ever since. Despite little money or business skill, and a preference to train quality rather than quantity, Mouse has trained an impressive list of big-race winners, most notably Michael O'Leary's War Of Attrition in the 2006 Gold Cup (now back in action!) and Hear The Echo, a long-odds winner of the 2008 Irish Grand National.  Jockeys, trainers, owners and stable lads express a rare fondness and respect for Mouse. Mouse himself speaks frankly of his wild ride on the racing rollercoaster, of days as a jockey, as a trainer, of financial hurdles (most notably, his part in the infamous Gay Futures affair), personal crises and tragedy. He remains one of Irish racing's truly unique characters.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49571216228625,"sku":"GOR001302301","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49644965626129,"sku":"GOR002880089","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ WELL_READ \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51144309473553,"sku":"GOR004356736","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1905172850.jpg?v=1751380069"},{"product_id":"when-bobby-met-christy-book-declan-colley-9781848890398","title":"When Bobby Met Christy","description":"Bobby Beasley was a champion jockey, a trait that ran in this famous racing family. By age 26, he had won a Cheltenham Gold Cup (1959), a Champion Hurdle (1960) and a Grand National (1961).  He was destined for racing greatness. But when he was 24, Bobby took his first drink and soon  succumbed to alcoholism. He abandoned his glittering career but turned a corner after his friend Nicky Rackard urged him to attend Alcoholics Anonymous. Five years later, aged 38, Beasley rode Captain Christy to an amazing victory at the Cheltenham Gold Cup. The horse was a headstrong brute, transformed by Pat Taaffe into one of the most exciting talents in jump racing. Still a novice in the 1974 Gold Cup, Captain Christy made a bad mistake at the last fence but Beasley, a dynamic and natural rider, kept his nerve to drive his horse past the previous year's winner, The Dikler. That ride by Beasley is ranked as one of the finest in racing history. Years later Beasley observed: 'Christy gave me back my self-respect. He made a huge difference to my life and was a hell of a horse.' After retiring in 1975, Beasley ran a pub for eight years and then worked in a vineyard in Kent. In the history of unlikely comebacks, that of Irish jockey Bobby Beasley is the most heartwarming - and unlikely - of them all.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49578179428625,"sku":"GOR003066487","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49581399277841,"sku":"GOR012312261","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50700351963409,"sku":"GOR006098454","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1848890397.jpg?v=1750963825"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/collections\/author-books-by-declan-colley.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}