Author(s): John Masefield

Sailing

Right Royal is a rollicking racing ballad, written by the great English poet John Masefield and first published in 1920. Against heavy odds, Charles Cothill enters his unfancied outsider Right Royal for the English Chasers' Cup, a race run over four and a half miles and, like the Grand National, featuring a string of formidable fences. Right Royal has earned a reputation for being ungenerous and temperamental, with remote prospects. But, on the night before the race, Cothill dreams that the horse will win and the haunting line echoes throughout the poem: 'It's my day today - I shall not have another ...' At stake is not only the rash wager the young jockey has on the race but the love of his life, 'the golden lady, Em'. A tale of exhilaration and heartbreak, folly and love, this is a spell-binding piece of writing by one of Britain's finest poets. Cecil Aldin's masterful illustrations beautifully capture the thrill of horse racing.