Knock Down

(London: Michael Joseph, 1974) 0718112970. First edition. 8vo; original red boards, lettered in gilt on spine; price-clipped laminated pictorial dustwrapper; pp. 206. Dustwrapper slightly rubbed at extremities of spine panel; some spotting to endpapers, page edges and flaps. Very good condition. "Steeplechase jockeys, like all other professional sportsmen, have to find a second career for themselves as the years go by. Jonah Dereham, retiring from the saddle at thirty-two, chose to become a bloodstock agent and spent his life travelling round racehorse sales, finding and bidding for the sort of horse each of his clients wanted. Jonah wanted only to mind his own business, but several disturbing incidents forced him to realise that someone was out to ruin him, and to survive he had to find the answers. A couple of bully boys began to put the boot in, and Jonah found himself progressively forced to fight for the survival of his horses, his business and himself. Hindered by a brother who hit the bottle, helped by a blonde in an orange MGB, he pressed onward to a rough conclusion. Set in the world of bloodstock auction sales, Knock Down takes a sharp but tolerant look at what the racehorse dealing industry gets up to behind the scenes." .