About the author
Gene Smith is an American author who wrote a children’s horse story about a Thoroughbred injured before he even began his racing career. He also wrote The Champion (1987), a non fiction work about a racehorse who was crippled after an accident, but whose owner couldn’t bear to destroy him. Instead the horse slowly recuperated, and was eventually used for riding for the disabled. Whether the two are in any way related I do not know, but it seems likely.
Finding the book
Reasonably easy to find.
Links and sources
Terri Wear: Horse Stories: An Annotated Bibliography
Bibliography (horse books only)
The Winner
Cowles Book Co, New York, 1970, 36 pp.
Top Gallant could have been a famous racehorse, but before he even started his racing career, he was injured: an injury which took a long time to heal.