Holy Bull: An Unconventional Path to Racing Glory centers around the 1994 American Horse of the Year, Holy Bull, who took an unconventional path to greatness. Born in Florida from modest parentage, he was both the horse of a lifetime for veteran trainer Warren A. “Jimmy” Croll and the cherished legacy of Croll’s dear friend, Rachel Carpenter, who left the horse to him in her will when she died in 1993.
Holy Bull won his first race on the day after Carpenter's death and by that fall was one of the leading two-year-olds in the nation. Nonetheless, Croll elected to bypass Thoroughbred horse racing’s year-end championships, the Breeders’ Cup, and he made an even more controversial decision to bypass the remaining races of the American Triple Crown series, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes, after Holy Bull turned in an inexplicably bad performance in the Kentucky Derby as the favorite. For any lesser horse, that would have spelled the end for any championship ambitions. Instead, Holy Bull rampaged through five straight races, defeating top older horses twice and whipping the best of his contemporaries in a dramatic Travers Stakes win.
Voted Horse of the Year in a landslide, the wildly popular horse seemed poised to go on to another championship season in 1995 when he was injured in the Donn Handicap, ending his racing career. Ten years later, his son Giacomo won the race that he could not, streaking home first in the Kentucky Derby and bringing a final vindication to a champion who did things his own way.
Holy Bull’s story highlights both the special bond that develops between a top Thoroughbred and its trainer and the twists and turns of this remarkable racehorse’s career along a road less taken. Pre-orders for this May 26, 2026, release can be made through the University Press of Kentucky (Holy Bull - The University Press of Kentucky).
Holy Bull won his first race on the day after Carpenter's death and by that fall was one of the leading two-year-olds in the nation. Nonetheless, Croll elected to bypass Thoroughbred horse racing’s year-end championships, the Breeders’ Cup, and he made an even more controversial decision to bypass the remaining races of the American Triple Crown series, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes, after Holy Bull turned in an inexplicably bad performance in the Kentucky Derby as the favorite. For any lesser horse, that would have spelled the end for any championship ambitions. Instead, Holy Bull rampaged through five straight races, defeating top older horses twice and whipping the best of his contemporaries in a dramatic Travers Stakes win.
Voted Horse of the Year in a landslide, the wildly popular horse seemed poised to go on to another championship season in 1995 when he was injured in the Donn Handicap, ending his racing career. Ten years later, his son Giacomo won the race that he could not, streaking home first in the Kentucky Derby and bringing a final vindication to a champion who did things his own way.
Holy Bull’s story highlights both the special bond that develops between a top Thoroughbred and its trainer and the twists and turns of this remarkable racehorse’s career along a road less taken. Pre-orders for this May 26, 2026, release can be made through the University Press of Kentucky (Holy Bull - The University Press of Kentucky).