Youngest Mongolian Derby winner features in William Hill sports book longlist

A book written by the youngest winner of the 600-mile Mongolian Derby is among the contenders for the William Hill sports book of the year, which has a first prize of £30,000.

Another entry, by former shortlisted author Richard Askwith, features the famous Velka Pardubicka in the Czech Republic in a story about a heroine during World War II.

This year's 31st running of the oldest sports book prize has whittled down a record 151 entries to a longlist of 14, which was announced on Tuesday morning.

Rough Magic: Riding The World’s Wildest Horse Race (Penguin Random House) recounts Lara Prior-Palmer's achievement of becoming the youngest winner, at the age of 19, of the Mongolian Derby in 2013.

Derby action across the Mongolian steppeCredit: Laurence Squire

Triumph in the face of adversity is also to be found in Richard Askwith’s Unbreakable: The Woman Who Defied the Nazis in the
World’s Most Dangerous Horse Race (Penguin Random House).

Askwith, who was shortlisted in 2004 for his Feet In The Clouds, champions the unsung achievements of Czech jockey Lata Brandisova, who overcame prevailing attitudes and menacing wartime forces to compete in the Pardubicka, a gruelling cross-country race that has attracted many British challengers since the war.

Both books face stiff opposition, with two rival authors bidding to win the most prestigious sports book award for a record-breaking third time.

Donald McRae's contender is In Sunshine or in Shadow: How Boxing Brought Hope in the Troubles (Simon & Schuster) and is his fourth book featuring boxing to make the longlist.

Duncan Hamilton, who won the 2009 award with his biography of cricketer Harold Larwood, returns to the sport with The Great Romantic: Cricket and the Golden Age of Neville Cardus (Hodder & Stoughton).

The shortlist will be announced on October 22 with the winner revealed at an afternoon reception at The Royal Horseguards Hotel on Thursday, December 5. The shortlisted authors will receive a leather-bound copy of their book and a £3,000 cash prize.

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