SOURCE: "Back in the Saddle Again," in The New York Times Book Review, October 2, 1994, p. 26.

In the following review, Mortimer praises Francis's storytelling ability in Wild Horses.

In many ways the writer is made by the day job. Where would Chekhov and Conan Doyle have been without their medical training, or Dashiell Hammet if he hadn't learned about the sleazier side of San Francisco as an operative in the Pinkerton detective agency? If Dick Francis' father hadn't been a steeplechase jockey, and if he hadn't decided to follow his father's breathlessly dangerous profession, we certainly shouldn't have had 33 novels that have entertained millions and won the approval of such as Philip Larkin, the fine but notably grumpy English poet, who was by no means easy to please.

"The mingled smells of hot horse and cold river mist filled my nostrils. I could hear only the swish and thud...