Hilarious Horse Novel Titles is a feature revolving around silly book titles
of my considerable horse novel collection.

We’re back in Joanna Campbell’s wonderful world of thoroughbred horse racing, this time, Thoroughbred [Vollblut] series edition. If you want to find out more about the series and have a laugh at the spin-off prequel series’ titles, go check out Part 1 here. If you read it, you already know that sometimes titles in this series might fool even the most experienced horse novel reader by being totally ambiguous. We had the example of Ashleigh’s Promise where Promise does not refer to a promise but to a horse by that name. In the Thoroughbred series, however, we have several different types of ambiguity. So, let’s play a little game. In the following, there’s always one title out of place. It’s basically a guessing game since you won’t be able to determine the true meaning without reading the blurb or being already familiar with the series.

1. Sierra’s Steeplechase (8), Cindy’s Runaway Colt (13), Ashleigh’s Farewell (17), Melanie’s Last Ride (29), Samantha’s Irish Luck (66), Kaitlin’s Wild Ride (68)
2. Samantha’s Pride (7), Cindy’s Honor (23), Melanie’s Treasure (25), Christina’s Courage (27), Allie’s Legacy (70)
3. Ashleigh’s Dream (5), Cindy’s Glory (14), Cassidy’s Secret (32), Parker’s Passion (61),
4. Ultimate Risk (40), Perfect Image (44), Perfect Challenge (52), Unbridled Fury (62), Starstruck (63)
5. Wonder’s Yearling (6),  Shining’s Orphan (12), Glory’s Rival (18), Legacy’s Gift (72)
6. Arabian Challenge (22), Racing Parker (33), Down to the Wire (38), Distance Runner (51)
7. Close Call (41), Team Player (50), Derby Fever (53), Great Expectations (55)

Did you mark down your guesses? The solutions are down below:
[wpspoiler name=”Solutions”]

1. Odd one out: Sierra’s Steeplechase
   While Cindy, Ashleigh, Melanie, Samantha, and Kaitlin are all girls, Sierra’s actually a horse.
2. Odd one out: Christina’s Courage
   Like Ashleigh’s Promise, all other title refer to a horse, in particular: Wonder’s Pride, Honor Bright, Pirate Treasure, and Wonder’s Legacy.
3. Odd one out: Cindy’s Glory
   This time, it’s the other way round: while all titles refer to an abstract concept, Glory aka March to Glory is a horse.
4. Odd one out: Perfect Image
   The title’s the name of a horse while the other titles are abstract or only refer to a horse.
5. Odd one out: Shining’s Orphan
   While all other titles refer to a horse (yearling = Wonder’s Pride, rival = Shining, gift = Allie’s Wonder), the orphan in question is Cindy who’s run away and sneaked into Shining’s stall where she’s found.
6. Odd one out: Racing Parker
   Okay, those last two are actually pretty mean. Around book 24, the publisher decided that racing’s out and eventing’s in, so we got a couple of titles that had nothing to do with racing before the books turned back because everyone wanted racing and not eventing. Later on, there were only a handful of eventing books featuring Parker now and again. Racing Parker‘s one of the eventing books, while the others focus on racing.
7. Odd one out: Derby Fever
   This is the other way round: All books except for Derby Fever are eventing books. And what’s Derby Fever about? Well, did you pay attention while reading the first part of HHNT? Why yes, of course, the Kentucky Derby, which takes place on the first Saturday in May. Which is today, so happy Kentucky Derby, everyone!

[/wpspoiler]

Well, and for now, that’s it. We’re probably going to revisit Joanna Campbell’s world and crazy titles in the future, but for now, we’re going to turn to other series in the upcoming posts …