THE Spotted Wonder relives the days when Hampshire was under the Turf spotlight.

The Tetrarch was one of the Turf’s greatest racehorses – and he was trained throughout his unbeaten career in 1913 at the Chattis Hill yard of Atty Persse, outside Stockbridge. Both he and his trainer are commemorated in St Peter’s Church.

Only an elite few racehorses become public idols and earn themselves a nickname. When the public first saw this oddly marked grey it dubbed him ‘The Rocking Horse’. But freakish powers soon gained him another: The Spotted Wonder. He is acknowledged as the fastest two-year-old ever to set hoof on an English racecourse. Retired amid sensational circumstances prior to the 1914 Derby for which he was a hot favourite, The Tetrarch proved an unenthusiastic stallion: his approach to sex was described as ‘monastic’. Yet he still managed to father Classic winners and become a champion sire, establishing dynasties that ensure his influence is felt to this day throughout the bloodstock world.

How often do we muse ‘if only they could talk’ as we watch a racehorse gain an improbable victory or meet inexplicable defeat.

Well, in this delightful book one of them does. The writer takes a risk giving a ‘Black Beauty’ voice to The Tetrarch but gets away with it. In elegant prose at one with the subject’s Edwardian setting, The Tetrarch introduces the reader to his breeder, owner, lad, trainer and jockey – the great Steve Donoghue. And supplemented by numerous rare photographs he describes life on the track and at stud in his own unique way.

This novel approach to racing history makes a fascinating read for fans of the Turf and Black Beauty.

Published by authorhouse.co.uk, priced £19.99.

Michael Tanner