Some influential scientists, notably equine fertility expert William "Twink" Allen, believe they should, but breeders are vehemently opposed. The standard argument is that because AI would allow top stallions to impregnate not hundreds but thousands of mares, it would lead to a potentially catastrophic narrowing of the gene pool.
This is disputed by supporters of AI. The incontestable fact is that it would lead to a dramatic fall in covering fees. Offer it to everyone in a test tube and the value would plummet. One stud owner even raises the prospect of black-market sachets being sold on the back streets of Newmarket. If the National Stud represents English traditionalism, the huge Darley Stud epistomises global wealth and ambition, each blade of grass perfectly manicured thanks to Sheikh Mohammed's millions. It even has a graveyard, with commanding headstones. Breeding has changed dramatically in the past three decades, with owner-breeders giving way to massive operations such as Coolmore, which from the mids pioneered commercial breeding and demonstrated how much money could be made from stallions.
I am at Darley, which owns Sea the Stars' sire Cape Cross, to meet the stud's head of marketing, Tania Henry-May, and Jocelyn Targett, who acts as a consultant advising on marketing strategy and overseeing the stud's advertising. Targett, a former Observer deputy editor who switched from journalism 12 years ago to work for Sheikh Mohammed, explains that in valuing a stallion, you should take account only of the first four years.
In his first season, he will be popular and cover perhaps mares, and he will probably do well in years two, three and four. But once his progeny are running, his value is in the lap of the gods: There are a lot of horses whose value capitulates at that point. There are lots of examples of horses that retire to stud in a blaze of glory, and then come the fifth season their stock have not done very well and they are no longer in demand. Hawk Wing is a famous example. It was a tremendous racehorse, very good-looking, was very highly rated, went to stud, was very popular but then stopped being a good stallion.
It doesn't mean he sired no good horses; he just didn't sire enough to maintain his fame and glory.
He is now at stud in Korea. The correlation between racetrack performance and success as a sire is at best inexact. The greatest sire of modern times is Sadler's Wells, who retired from stud last year because of declining fertility. I give you a guarantee now that Sea the Stars will not get a horse as good as himself. There is not the slightest chance of that, though if he gets lots of horses that are nearly as good as him, he'll be all right. In breeding, science can only take you so far. Freakishly good racehorses — Brigadier Gerard, a superstar of the early s, was one example — can come from unpromising pairings.
Equally, a superbly bred horse can be useless when it gets to the track. The Green Monkey is the most notorious: The element of chance means every breeder can afford to dream, and Targett says dreaming is what holds the sport together. That's the thing I've got in common with Tania, and that we've got in common with people in stately piles who have been breeding horses for 17 generations, and with farmers in Ireland who always keep a mare. It's a sport full of people who are going to lose, yet also full of optimists, perhaps self-delusional optimists, and dreamers who crave the win and get the win from time to time but have to be thick-skinned enough to smile through adversity.
It's a pleasing image, though Morris bemoans the obsession with "making horses into stallions" in the pursuit of money. For a start, it underplays the genetic importance of the dam the distaff side of the pedigree. Targett accepts that while the stallions make all the headlines, because they are the money-spinners, the dam brings just as much genetically and is the basis around which good "families" of racehorses are built.
She died earlier this year, just after giving birth again, but her genes will live on though countless generations of thoroughbreds, especially if Sea the Stars can match Galileo as a great sire. A few days later, I am in a taxi being driven across the Curragh, the great plain in County Kildare 30 miles south-west of Dublin that is the home of Irish racing.
The taxi driver, like almost every Irishman, is horse-mad, pointing out the graves of various famous horses and the stud farm from which Derby winner Shergar was stolen. The tips that matter to him come from trainers and jockeys, but he says they almost always lose, which is why he is driving a cab. We discuss Sea the Stars, the local celebrity who is spending his last few days at trainer John Oxx's stable before going to stud. There has been a steady stream of pilgrims to Oxx's yard, paying homage to the champion, and a party of French racing fans are there on the day I visit.
Oxx's dining table is covered in letters and cards from racing fans. In any case, he is now keen for the horse to be on his way. We weren't anxious all year when he was racing, but now that he's finished and is about to leave us you'll be happy to see him go. Does he know what he's achieved? He's a clever horse, and I wouldn't say that about most horses. My meeting with Sea the Stars is, if truth be told, something of an anti-climax. He is undeniably beautiful, but then all thoroughbreds are. My eye is insufficiently expert to see what sets him apart. Oxx tries to explain. He's big and strong, has got perfect conformation, great length to his neck, and big, powerful quarters; great, correct limbs; plenty of bone.
He's just one of these perfect racing specimens. It's the largest — and easily the priciest — penis I have ever seen. Oxx says it's an occupational hazard of showing visitors around. So how good will history judge him to have been? Oxx explains that the experts who judge the quality of racehorses put him slightly below a handful of great horses from previous eras, but that their formulae are fallible.
Ratings may not really do him justice — that's the general feeling. I wouldn't claim he was the greatest of all time — it's silly to have these bar-stool arguments about who was the greatest. All you can say is that he is one of the greats, and that's plenty good enough. I have one final visit to make — to the nearby Irish National Stud, where Sea the Stars was bred, and where his dam, Urban Sea, lived and, in March, died. Chief executive John Clarke gives me a tour of the 1,acre farm and introduces me to Urban Sea's final foal, who is grazing in a field.
Urban Sea haemorrhaged soon after giving birth to the foal, who has been given the pet name Reborn in homage to his Arc-winning mother. He is born for greatness and, according to Clarke, looks even more impressive than Sea the Stars did at the same age. Does he know what he has to live up to? Perhaps three years from now he, too, will be winning the Derby and the Arc. And not many are happy about this development. Sam is such a fierce, determined character, not badass in that she's perfect at everything she attempts.
But every time she doesn't succeed or doesn't do her best, she picks herself back up and tries again. I think that's the sign of a true heroine That determination of Sam's instantly booted her to my list of favorite characters. Sam is constantly bombarded with reminders that very few people want her at the DMA and many will go to great lengths to see her fail or to get her to quit. She's pretty stiff competition for a lot of the male recruits, and that does nothing to help her situation.
But not everyone and not every recruit is against Sam. There are three other female recruits in the program, though the allusions to female solidarity that I've seen in some reviews kind of boggle my mind. She did have one true female supporter along the way, and she was probably the most important to begin with. However, Sam has a few male friends in the academy, too, ones who understand unity and working as a company and not for their own advancement, and they make the experience slightly less taxing for Sam.
The Breeding Rites
The author takes the military experience, feminism, and a secret society and meshes them to create this absolutely intriguing story. And then she goes and creates this totally swoon-worthy romance that is scorching hot, not because it's forbidden but because it's so genuine and the love interest has Sam's best interests at heart. He's not a bad boy. He's not a douche. He's just her Drill Sergeant, and he's not afraid of a strong female who's willing to prove herself, no matter what. My only complaint about this book is that I think part of my copy was missing.
I am usually a fan of an open ending, but after all these characters had suffered -- for their own dreams and for each other -- well, I just hoped for more of a resolution for them. Not necessarily a happy ending, mind you, but at least a real hint at what their future held. I'm really hoping there will be a sequel or some kind of novella, at least, to provide a more resolute ending, but as it is, this is still one of the best books I've read all year.
Many thanks to all the bloggers who reviewed it and pushed me to give it a chance! GIF it to me straight: Book, I salute you! Jul 10, Tamara rated it liked it. I haven't decided yet. Buddy read with Aj the Ravenous Reader. Open the link to read her perfectly described review. Sam McKenna is our main character, not heroine like most of the books I typically read. She is a head strong, daring, and a determined person. Sam couldn't not complete this dare, so she, as a McKenna, joins this particular military school, known to have gradua Maybe 3.
Sam couldn't not complete this dare, so she, as a McKenna, joins this particular military school, known to have graduated past McKenna's into important figures within the military as well as the school itself. But that's not the problem, this school is full of men- boys -who don't believe women belong in the DMA. Throughout the novel, Sam is trying to survive the anger of the sexist members of a secret society trying to eliminate her and the other girls from the DMA, as well as boys believing they have a shoot at joining the Society, as they call themselves.
An original and well written book, yet one that didn't bring excitement to the reading. Even though the written compelled me to continue reading, the story itself did not. Though I was happy to read something outside of my usual taste in novels, that thanks belongs to Aj po did I use that right?? I'm also an awful buddy read partner I was reading too fast and then I was over a week behind in uploadign this review, Sorry Aj View all 4 comments.
The super-studs: inside the secretive world of racehorse breeding | Sport | The Guardian
Jun 30, Rashika is tired rated it really liked it Shelves: No matter how much people want to bury their heads in the sand, sexism is a thing and many women suffer the consequences of the ideals certain people refuse to let go. Joy highlights those so very well in her debut. She gives us the hard truth. Sam was a wonderful character. The things that were done to her HURT her. She was too scared to stand up to her bullies and that hurt her, too. I also loved that Sam wasn't actually alone; there was a small assemble of people who actually believed in her and wanted her to succeed.
They could see that she was working harder than the rest of them because of the pressure on her and they supported her. Then there was Jax and I was really happy to see another female with such a positive role in the book. Not when she was spat out on her first day there. All that overwhelming stuff aside, I loved how the author structured the military school. I also adored the romance. It was a slow burn and I loved watching Sam and Drill work and just be cute together. I was definitely not happy with the way things ended, though.
It makes me even sadder because it was done realistically. The one thing I really want to give kudos to Joy on, everything else wonderful about this book aside, was her decision to redeem Sam's family. Considering their actions, it was a risk. I mean, how do you forgive your family for behaving like assholes and being completely unsupportive? Joy handled it in a great way because she didn't excuse their actions, but instead took a different route and I think it worked very well.
There was also the redemption of a few other characters and I also liked seeing that. This is most certainly a book that you wouldn't want to miss out on. It can be intense and overwhelming and so painfully hard to read at times you will be in constant need of hugs but it is just a book everyone needs to read. I am a wuss but a couple of hours after finishing this book, I told my mom I wanted to attend a military school.
You can laugh at me, too. Mar 29, Jaime Arkin rated it it was amazing Shelves: This book was amazing and I fail at putting my full review together to tell you why, mostly because it was just that good! I think what was most intriguing for me with this book was the setting. Sure, we get boarding schools and dystopian books that are frequently set at times in a military type setting, but this one is straight up a military academy.
And Sam is among the first group of girls to petition in order to attend. With that comes the 4. But Sam is determined to prove them wrong. I really loved Sam as a character here and I think Hensley did an amazing job with her. Apr 29, Juhina rated it it was amazing Shelves: Love love loved it!!!!!
This was addicting, I need more books with military settings.
Rites of Passage
Let me start off by writing that if Love love loved it!!!!! Let me start off by writing that if you are a 90s kid and watched Disney, then you probably have seen the tv movie Cadet Kelly. This was one of my favorite movies because I was so fascinated by the military school and all the training and, yes I have to admit, all the cool clothes Hilary Duff wore. I'm mentioning this to let you know I had more than average expectations for it.. BUT, Rites of Passage didn't just meet them, but totally exceeded them all.
Everything about this book was exciting, fast paced, and addicting. Everything was working for this book, starting with the unique setting and plot line. Sam is a military brat, what that means is that she grew up in a family of military people. In her case, her dad, and her two older brothers are in the military. However, one of her brothers is dead but before he passed away, he dared her to enroll at the DMA, short for the Denmark Military Academy. We are in the 21st century and women are still discriminated against.
Anyways, Sam enrolls along with four other girls. The book opens up with her traveling in the car with her parents to the school. That chapter will hook you, I guarantee it. One of the welcome military upperclassmen tries to flirt with her before he knew who she was and he got burrrrrnt her dad is very high up in the military. Sam's attitude was what made most of this book for me. She's kick butt, brave, strong, smart, and an all around awesome person. She obviously knew what she was getting into by signing up at the DMA and she never once complaint, even through monologues, about how hard or unfair she was getting treated.
Ever heard of people trying too hard to NOT show favoritism but end up discriminating instead? The hazing and harsh treatment of some upperclassmen gets so bad I would wince sometimes during some scenes. Still, I loved her comradeship and her "never give up" attitude. The secret society mystery is also very interesting and I was on my toes trying to figure out what their next move is against the girls and their tries at kicking them out.
Lastly is the romance, and we hit the jackpot with this book! I've mentioned in earlier reviews how I've started to ignore the romances in YA books because many are cliches and made from the same typical mold?
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I loved everything about the love interest, Drill, and ah, I had my own swoon moments thinking of him! Hensley never let the love interest become the typical YA savior. There was a sense of equality between him and Sam's relationship that I really appreciated. One thing I must mention is the ending. I know many people say it is too open ended to their liking since there isn't a sequel as of yet, go buy the book!!
It gave me enough closure but at the same time, hinted at what is to come. The lives of people don't stop after the end of the book so it would seem weird that a corrupt secret society would get cleaned up and the people would get over their sexism. That hasn't even happened in the real world! If you want a unique setting with a kick butt protagonist, a mystery, a secret society, hazings, and witnessing military training life, then Rites of Passage is just the book for you. I am already itching for a reread but I'm going to wait until my beautiful finished copy is in my possession before reading it again hint: View all 9 comments.
Mar 28, Alise Readers in Wonderland rated it really liked it Shelves: If you guys are looking for a contemporary read with a fierce heroine, look no further. Not only does Rites of Passage tell a great story, it tackles serious issues like sexism very well. By the time I got around to finally reading this one, I had forgotten most of the details in the synopsis, so a lot of the plot was a pleasant surprise. I was initially hesitant about this society that was going after her mentioned in the synopsis because I felt the story was strong enough without that particu If you guys are looking for a contemporary read with a fierce heroine, look no further.
I was initially hesitant about this society that was going after her mentioned in the synopsis because I felt the story was strong enough without that particular plotline, but I was overall pretty pleased with the book. They all have really unique personalities and I found myself quickly growing attached to Sam and her friends. Sam was my favorite character of all, not only can she hold her own with the men, she even surpasses some of them with her hard work and determination.
The experience is written vividly and realistically, and I felt like I was there right alongside Sam as she went through it all. And Sam acts like she easily accepts this. Review also posted at Young Adult Hollywood. Sometimes all you really need is a good contemporary book and here comes Rites of Passage. It is refreshing and intense. Mar 28, Judith rated it liked it Shelves: View all 6 comments.
Sep 08, Jen rated it it was amazing Shelves: I cannot remember the last time a book made me feel so incredibly, incandescently, indescribably enraged. Seriously, I was filled with anger for most of the book. Right now, I can see you looking at the rating and wondering whether I slipped up. This review will involve a Actual Rating: Rites of Passage is an intense read about gender and the military, which made me want to go on a nutpunching rampage. The key difference is that there were other women in positions of power at the military academy Hilary Duff went to most notably Ren Stevens as a badass drill sergeant.
Sam McKenna is from a military family. She knows the regulations and has lived them for most of her life. After his death, she had no choice but to follow through, because she owes it to her love of him. In fact, Sam IS ready. The rules of the academy are already drilled into her. A military academy is tough and not remotely fluffy.
Recruits are not allowed to walk on the sidewalks, even though sidewalks are literally made for walking. Pretty much every single rule is there to dehumanize the recruits. Unfortunately, this DMA is populated by misogynistic shitbags and from day one everyone has been telling her to go home and stop polluting the academy. Sam responds not by acting out but by holding herself to ever higher standards of excellence.
Watching this is agony. People abuse her verbally and physically in an effort to make her leave. Clearly, these dickwad arsehole shitheads are aware that, if women come to the academy, the females might just excel. If they truly believed women were inferior, they could have just left the women alone and waited for them to inevitably fail. She does all the same physical activity as everyone else. And all she can do is either drop out or accept the abuse quietly, because the military will always believe people of higher rank. No one is on her side and it is painful to watch.
Her mom, especially, who is completely outside the military academy and draws away for non-political reasons. Losing one child is a shitty reason to push away the rest of them. What kills me about this book is how plausible it seems. Removing prejudice is an incredibly slow process and I think the military, by its nature, is probably even slower. However, I think Hensley handled it perfectly. Despite the hormones, she cares about her military career first. During her first days, Sam gets an email from an account called jaxhax telling her to quit the DMA.
Eventually, you learn who Jax is and that she wants to help Sam. Conveniently, Jax is a hacker and has exactly the skills needed to make the plot possible. Rites of Passage is an intense consideration of gender roles and expectations in a military academy. Now, I think I need to watch Cadet Kelly to recover. Wow, this book evoked so many emotions out of me that I'm still thinking about it a week after I finished it.
This was a book I wanted to read because I thought it sounded cute. A girl in the military? But it wasn't that high on my TBR until the gorgeous finished copy arrived on my doorstep and I really paid attention to the summary. You guys know I hardly pay attention to summaries the first time around When I saw that Khristine Hvam was narrating this one, it went at the very top Wow, this book evoked so many emotions out of me that I'm still thinking about it a week after I finished it.
You guys know I hardly pay attention to summaries the first time around When I saw that Khristine Hvam was narrating this one, it went at the very top of my TBR. This book was nothing like the cute story that I was expecting. It was intense and so very powerful. I looooooved Rites of Passage so much even though it made me angry so many times.
I was hooked on the story but I also didn't want it to end. Sam McKenna comes a military family. Her dad and brothers are in the army and she knows more about the army then most guys. When her older brother dared her to join the Denmark Military Academy, they mostly laughed it off. But when her brother kills himself and the Academy starts allowing girls to enlist, Sam feels like this is one dare she has to do. Her family isn't too happy with her choice, but Sam is one determined and stubborn girl. She knows that it won't be easy, but she also knows that not only can she do it, but she deserves to be able to attend.
Holy shit balls, was this story intense! I love the way Hensley described the Academy life. The brutal parts and the good parts. It's clear from day one that Sam and the rest of the girls are not wanted at the academy. Some of the guys start making their life hell, Sam specifically since she's the one who shows the most promise. When the attacks on her start getting more serious and cruel, and with Matthews on a personal vendetta against her, it gets harder and harder for Sam to stay. But despite them purposely picking on her and setting Sam up at every opportunity to fail, Same won't give up.
Even when it seems like no one is on her side, not even her own family. This is the part of the story where the emotions will kick in high gear. Matthews and the rest of the guys do horrible things to Sam, things that make you start hoping for maiming of certain body parts.
I did have a few moments of confusion at the beginning. There were too many names thrown at me at once and it was hard for me to sometimes keep track of who was who. I spent a few chapters thinking Kelly was a girl. And the summary mentions that Sam starts falling for her drill sergeant, but for a chunk of the first half, we get a maybe romance with this Kelly guy which confused me a bit since he wasn't her drill sergeant.
But, things cleared up quickly and I learned people's names and the romance between Sam and Drill Stamm started to slowly develop. This story centered around the romance, which I actually liked because Sam already had too much going on. But I did love how the romance part plaid out. It had that forbidden element with a good friends-first slow burn. I loved how Stamm was always there for Sam when she needed it the most. I spent most of the book angry and hating most of these characters and plotting revenge in my head.
I loved how with so many characters to hate, we also have some very good characters to love. Rites of Passage was such a beautiful story with a powerful message. It might not have been the cute Girl Power story I was expecting but it definitely was a 'Girl Power' kind of story in a totally different kick-ass way. Such an intense book, I loved everything about it Because please tell me there's going to be another book!!!
There has to be another book! I need to know what happens to Sam and Drill and most of all those assholes that were so terrible to Sam. As of now, GR doesn't have a book 2 listed, but I'm crossing my fingers that there will be one. Hensley does have another book releasing in about a girl in the world of mixed martial arts and I can't freaking wait to read it.
The Harder You Fall is already on my highly anticipated reads! Such a great book, I can't recommend Rites of Passage enough. I've been wanting to read a book by Khristine Hvam for a long time and I'm so glad this was my first experience by her. Now I know why she has so many books under her name. She was an amazing Sam and she did a perfect job of bringing this story to life. Since we experience so many of Sam's training exercises with a lot of shouting and 'Sir yes Sir!
I read some of it but listened to the majority of it and loved every single second of it. I highly recommend the audiobook version of this story. View all 7 comments. Jun 12, Christina Ensconced in Lit rated it really liked it Shelves: It's been a while since I've read a book that's basically kept me up all night for two nights in a row and obsessed me during my work day. This is why I read. For books like these. Hensley stars Sam, an unusual YA protagonist who decides to go to military school following her two older brothers.
She comes from a military family, but this particular school is still backwards and anti-female-- and will do anything to get all the five girls who have enrolled to Holy moly. She comes from a military family, but this particular school is still backwards and anti-female-- and will do anything to get all the five girls who have enrolled to quit. But Sam is not a quitter, and no matter what they throw her way, she's determined to survive the year and pave the road for women to come.
Quickly, she realizes there is something more sinister going on, and that bruised muscles may not be the only thing she needs to worry about. Who can she trust? Where can she turn? Even her own brother seems to turn against her. Will Sam be able to figure out the conspiracy and find out who her true friends are before it's too late?
This was a pulse pounding read from start to finish. The first thing I noticed was how well versed Hensley is in military school. I wasn't surprised to find that she has been there herself. The details made me believe I was there, and I never thought I'd be interested to learn more about military school, but Hensley makes it approachable and fascinating.
Sam as the the protagonist is strong willed, likeable, and believable. She's the perfect YA protagonist, and it's like she lives in a dystopia but instead lives in a YA contemporary. There are some love angles, but I like how it takes backstage to what she's going through.
- See a Problem??
- In The Still Of The Night.
- Grunt: Rite of Passage.
The pace is wicked fast, and people are not going to be able to put this book down. You may wonder why I didn't rate this 5 stars. I really really wanted to because this book needs to be read by everyone desperately. That said, there was one particular issue that was big enough for me to not do that. I felt that Sam's family was really integral to this story, and really shaped her to be the person she is in this book, but we barely learned anything about them. In particular, there's Amos, one of her brothers, that I learn three facts about in the entire book, but it's clear he meant The book is long already and I don't know how she could have fit this in too, but I just wanted to feel more connected to Amos, Jonathan, and her parents.
That way some of the final scenes would have made more sense to me emotionally. In any case, regardless of this, this book is going to be a huge hit. I can't wait to see what else she writes, and I'll definitely be picking up her next book! Apr 07, Tanja Tanychy St. When my friend Zemira read this one and couldn't suppress her excitement about this book it was my cue to go and request it as I knew I'd enjoy this one too. I did, which is not a surprise. But what surprised me was that all this military talk didn't bother me the slightest.
Our main character in this story is Sam, who finds herself in men's world. Being raised in a military family it was a surprise and not to see her taking the same steps as her bothers before her and joining the military. A bit controversial move for some members of Denmark Military Academy but for some highly offensive. Even though she knew that the training and living up with high expectations would be hard for her, she couldn't even dream that not only military officers but rather her mates will try to turn her life into a living hell.
Not only try, but rather succeed in that. It would be insane but not to admire Sam on her persistence and strength which she showed in this book. How even in the worst moments she didn't give up and kept going, fighting and going forward, never backward. Even though at moments it was cruel, it really made her stronger and fierce. But Rites of Passage is not just cruel and dark, but it has a rather nice romance.
Which starts as a simple crush Sam has on her drill sergeant and grows and develops into a nice romance, which is persistent and fierce like both of them are. Only reason why I couldn't think of this book as a perfection is its ending. I really wish it was a bit more closed as this was it leaves space for a possible sequel which in my opinion feels unnecessary. Oct 07, Angie rated it did not like it Shelves: The seemingly universal love for this debut contemporary YA led me to expect quite a bit more than I got.
Coming from a military brat with a colonel father herself in other words, I felt predisposed to like this tale , this book was a big fat snooze fest. Nothing about it stood out to me—not the writing, not the characters, not the plot. It all looked fabulous on paper and had such potential first crop of girls at an all boys military academy , but when it came to execution I connected with no The seemingly universal love for this debut contemporary YA led me to expect quite a bit more than I got.
It all looked fabulous on paper and had such potential first crop of girls at an all boys military academy , but when it came to execution I connected with no one and was surprised by nothing. Mac's story read like a particularly numbing laundry list. I kept trying to fall into it, but the very genuine traumas in her life never seemed to translate into any actual emotional impact for her let alone me. And so it goes. Hensley 9 24 Nov 28, Hensley is a former middle school teacher. She used to spend her twenty-minute lunch breaks hosting author Skype chats for her students.
Once upon a time she went to a military school on a dare. She lives in Virginia with her husband and two children, finding as many ways as she can to never do another push-up again.