First-Time Starter: #1 in the First-Time Starter Trilogy

"First-Time Starter" was a semi-finalist for the 2020 Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award. This prestigious award honors excellence in thoroughbred racing literature.

From the bestselling author of "Black Deuce" comes the novelette "First-Time Starter."

A trainer, an old cowboy from Nebraska, who somehow stays one win photo ahead of the feed man. A gallop boy who’s afraid of horses. A groom who believes in a horse everyone else has given up on. A hard-drinking jockey, once a superstar, who still has the hands of a virtuoso. A filly who’s at war with everything that walks on two legs. And this is their story…

“I wrote "First-Time Starter" for the same reason a jockey sits in the hotbox. For the same reason grooms, hotwalkers and gallop boys and girls work seven days a week. For the same reason a trainer studies a condition book as if it’s holy. For the same reason an owner keeps paying bills on a horse that can’t find the winner’s circle. I wrote "First-Time Starter" because I love horses and racing. And with this story, I do my humble best to convince the reader they should too.”
~Stan D. Jensen

About the Author

Stan D. Jensen received his bachelor’s degree in history and his master’s degree in education from the University of Northern Iowa. He has owned racehorses, and spent the 1980s as a jockey’s agent. His short stories have been published in the magazine “The Backstretch.” Mr. Jensen lives in Clinton, Iowa, and continues to write.

Also by Stan D. Jensen

Black Deuce
Red Otter
Ethan’s Peach Tree
Stake Horse: #2 in the First-Time Starter Trilogy