Centaur

**WINNER OF THE GENERAL OUTSTANDING SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARD**

**SHORTLISTED FOR THE WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR 2017**

Coping with your own death, when you are not yet dead, is a strange thing...

A natural on a horse since he was able to walk, and imbued with a pure love of riding, Declan Murphy became one of the most brilliant jockeys of his generation before his world came crashing down at the final hurdle of a race at Haydock Park. His skull shattered in twelve places, he was believed to be dead, the last rites were read and the Racing Post prepared his obituary. Miraculously, and the word is not used lightly, he survived and defied medical thinking in recovering to the extent that eighteen months after his fall, he was able to saddle up for one more race. As usual, he won.

For 23 years, Declan has been unable to tell his story, to bring to words existence on the frontier between life and death, to describe the incredible bond between man and horse. But now, in an extraordinary collaboration with Ami Rao, she has helped him find those words, a way to piece together what happened before, during and after, what it all meant and what it means to us all. It is a story of triumph, fear, love and loss, by turns primal, heartbreaking and inspirational, and ultimately, it is the story of hope, and of life.

** CASTIGATORUL PREMIULUI CARTE SPORTIVA GENERALA PENTRU ANUL **** PREZENTAT PENTRU CARTEA SPORTIVA A ANULUI WILLIAM HILL 2017 ** Sa te descurci cu propria moarte, cand nu esti inca mort, este un lucru ciudat ... Un natural pe un cal de cand a fost capabil sa mearga si impregnat de o dragoste pura de calarie, Declan Murphy a devenit unul dintre cei mai stralucitori jockeys din generatia sa inainte ca lumea sa sa se prabuseasca la obstacolul final al unei curse la Haydock Park.