Cornelius Lysaght: My encyclopedia on world racing

Why I wrote the book

Harper Collins, my publishers, wanted to have something in a similar vein to their book on motor racing. But they hadn't realised that there are almost as many racecourses in Yorkshire as there are F1 circuits in the world! They certainly weren't providing me with first class travel around the globe, but through various means we were able to put together an encyclopedia of a hundred racecourses. We also managed to gather photographs of the locations, and it was important not to make them too generic. I wanted to dig into the heritage of each racecourse. This sport has such a rich heritage, and I think we shouldn't be frightened of that, but celebrate it. There are some things in racing that may seem a bit archaic (measuring in furlongs and guineas, for example). But these aren't things to deride.