Golden Filly Books In Order

Publication Order of Golden Filly Books

“Golden Filly” is a series of novels by Lauraine Snelling, the best-selling and award-winning children’s author with more than eighty novels to her name. The first novel of the series was the 1991 published title “The Race” that introduced the lead character of the series 16 year old Tricia Evanston. The first novel was soon followed by nine more novels culminating in the 1995 published novel “The Winners Circle”. However, Snelling had been writing for a long time before this having debuted her writing career with the novel “Tragedy on the Toutle” published in 1982. Since then she has been writing adult non-fiction, contemporary and historical fiction and more horse novels for her young readers. She has won many accolades and awards over the years including the Golden Heart by the Romance Writers of America for the Novel “Song of Laughter”, and the Silver Angel for the novel “An Untamed Land”. Given that she is has Norwegian roots, she was inducted into the American-Scandinavian Hall of Fame for her novels celebrating the stories of Norwegian immigrants to the United States. In addition to her writing, Lauraine is a well liked speaker who teaches people to live their lives with joy and humor, and to find and utilize their gifts. When she is not writing she loves to paint water colors and tend to her flower gardens. Lauraine lives with her husband Wayne in the Tehachapi Mountains.

Like many other writers, Lauraine Snelling’s journey to becoming a published author was full of bumps and detours. She had always wanted to become a writer since she was a high school student but the dream faded when she grew older and adult responsibilities became more pressing. However, she attended a writing conference in 1980 and the love was rekindled as she learnt how to write material worthy of publication. Previously she had gone the usual way of sending queries to anyone she thought would be interested, an approach that did not get her very far. Her break came when a magazine asked her to write an article for them and she was ecstatic. Soon she followed the same process with her debut horse book, and was pleasantly surprised when it was accepted by Baker Book House. She asserts that she follows a simple process of query, proposal, and finally the full manuscript which has worked for her every time, though it is better with some novels than with others.

The “Golden Filly” series of novels is about Tricia Evanston, a 16 year old teenager that lives on a training and thoroughbred breeding farm in rural America. When her father is taken ill, it is up to Tricia and her friends and brothers to take up more responsibilities that include, exercising the horses for upcoming races and ensuring that the farm is kept in good working order. She has to do all these while ensuring that she does not neglect her school work as that would make her be at loggerheads with her mother. Tricia is a likable protagonist whose strong will is well beyond her years. For the most part she makes the hardest of decisions and takes responsibility to make her father and mother proud, even as she seeks to fulfill her dreams of racing in the Kentucky Derby. In fact, most of the characters in the series are honest and good people that help each other in their time of need. The only villain in the novel is Evanston’s father illness, which burdens the young girl with an overwhelming amount of worry and work. Lauraine Snelling writes good narrative of courage in the face of adversity as Tricia not only loses her father to the illness, but she wades through the tragedy to become a several time winner of local horse races and the Kentucky Derby.

In” Go for the Glory”, Trivia Evanston the 16 year old aspiring jockey just got accepted to race at local Portland Meadows racetrack. Hal her father who had been one of the best trainer of horses for miles around has been taken ill and the family has been asked by the doctor to get him to eat as much as possible to maintain his strength. Prayers are made for him at the local church leaving Tricia embarrased. Meanwhile, her mother wants her to withdraw from the race as she believes that she may hurt herself. David her elder brother supports her mother’s opinion and tried to convince her to wait until she is well-prepared. But Tricia will never allow anyone to convince her not to ride Spitfire onto that race track. Going along for the trip will be a 3 month old horse named Miss Tee that was born on her birthday and been offered to her as a birthday gift by her father. But just when she qualifies for the derby, her father condition worsens leaving her devastated. She learns how to cope by getting closer to God and makes a good showing at the derby which she dedicates to the memory of her father.

“Kentucky Dreamer” is an emotional and uplifting novel of the “Golden Filly” series featuring Tricia Evanston. Tricia just won the Santa Anita Derby and is celebrating the win with Rhonda her best friend who was on the terraces with her brother and mother. Hal takes his daughter back home to Vancouver proud of her achievements with her winning horse Spitfire. On the way, they stop at the home of her father’s friend Adam Finley, to talk about the possibility of Tricia staying in California during the summer. However, knowing her mother, it might be a problem convincing her that her daughter would be safe in California. The two men plan to enter Firefly and Spitfire into the Kentucky Derby though Firefly is not in the best condition. She gets many notes of congratulations from owners and participants of the Portland Meadows race. But even before she can drink it all in, Evanston gets into an accident putting her prospects in jeopardy. How good could she be riding in a race she had never raced in before. It is a great story though it is pure fiction given no woman ever won the Kentucky Derby. Nonetheless, it is an intriguing story of what happiness behind the scenes that gets one wanting to go to the Churchill Downs for at least one race.