Saving Baby

Some twenty years ago, the author fell in love with a Thoroughbred that happened to be born on her farm. She was not supposed to keep the horse, he belonged to a breeder. But the breeder said Jo Anne could have the foal, as long as she raced him. In this memoir, she tells her life-changing story of love, regret, and redemption.

---

Some twenty years ago, Jo Anne Normile fell in love with a Thoroughbred that happened to be born on her farm. She was not supposed to keep the horse, a beautiful, exuberant bay with only a few white hairs on his forehead. He belonged to a breeder who lived somewhere else. But the breeder said Jo Anne could have the foal, whom she nicknamed Baby, as long as she raced him. The bond between woman and horse was strong, and Normile would have kept Baby safe in the pasture at her home, had she not made this promise. Still, horseracing had always come across as a glamorous mix of mint juleps and celebrity, set against a backdrop of equine grace and speed. It was a vision that appealed to Jo Anne. But she didn't know about the indifference and corruption that runs rampant through the world of horse racing-not until an accident on a poorly maintained track resulted in tragedy for Baby. That's when everything changed for Jo Anne and she founded the most successful horse rescue in the country, saving more horses than anyone else ever has. The Sport of Kings, as it is known, is like a drug, an intoxicating ecstasy, that transfixes.
But once Normile learned the truth-that for every Seabiscuit, there are tens of thousands of racehorses whose lives end in pain and despair - she did a complete about-face, even pulling from the racecourse a promising granddaughter of Secretariat poised to win no small amount of money. And she transformed her misgivings into the pursuit of an entirely different vision, founding the most successful horse rescue in the country and saving more horses than anyone else ever has. Saving Baby, a memoir, tells her life-changing story of love, regret, and redemption.