'Just what you'd expect from the master horseman they called Pumper: cheeky, funny, brash, unrepentant...a rollicking good read.' Les Carlyon
Champion Jockey Jim Cassidy is the ultimate 'colourful racing identity'.
In a stellar 38-year career, 'The Pumper' won 104 Group 1 races, including two Melbourne Cups - the first in 1983 on Kiwi, a $1000 farm horse, where Cassidy came from dead-last to win; the second a famous redemption ride on Might and Power in 1997.
Brilliance in the saddle and bald-faced cheek in the press made Cassidy the Australian racetrack's most beloved and controversial character. His horse whispering gifts, gambler's charm and maverick wit always made him a favourite with the punters, trainers and journalists...but rarely officialdom.
Cassidy's fast life and uncensored opinions led to his exile after the Jockey Tapes scandal in the '90s. Broke but never broken, he fought back. And even when he was back page and front page news, Cassidy's popularity never waned. As he'd quip in victory, 'Ring-a-ding-ding, Pumper's the king!'
Honest, heartfelt and often hilarious, Pumper is Jim Cassidy's explosive autobiography - a page-turning thrill-ride through his many adventures on and off the track.