ONE of the dangers about buying a book at Christmas time is the likelihood that it could be given by someone else too. For that reason, I have chosen a volume that you can be virtually certain will be unique, and be hugely informative, inspirational, and enjoyable. It is available to buy online, saving you time and effort, to boot!

I had been meaning to get my hands on Grit, Grace & Glory - The Usha Story for a long time, and finally did so at the beginning of October, and it is already showing signs of wear as it has been well thumbed and read. It is written and compiled by Ameeta Mehra, one of India’s great stud owners and breeders, and a lady with fond memories of Ireland. One of the most knowledgeable people on breeding and racing, and with a charismatic presence, she studied at the Irish National Stud. Her tale is one of great success, unimaginable tragedy, and yet great hope for the future.

January 2nd, 2001 was the day on which her parents, Major Pradeep and Veena Mehra, together with Ameeta’s only sibling, younger sister Radhika, were killed when their helicopter crashed. Ameeta pledged to carry on her father’s work, and her spiritual belief empowered her. A month later, she sold all the stud’s foals that her father had planned to offer at auction, though many believed she could not do so ‘in a man’s world’.

Major Mehra founded Usha Stud in 1973, with a handful of mares, and developed it into one of the major breeding and stallion farms in India. Ameeta has carried on his work, and the family’s record as breeders is unsurpassed. I ran into Ameeta after leaving the paddock at ParisLongchamp following Daryz’s win in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. She was excited, not by Daryz’s victory, but rather because a colt from the first crop of her Galileo stallion Deauville had just won a classic in India.

Grit, Grace & Glory - The Usha Story celebrates the vision, resolve, and farsightedness of Pradeep Mehra and Ameeta, using rare photographs and an eloquent, heartwarming text. It is an exploration of Pradeep Mehra’s struggles as a ‘backyard breeder’, with no assets other than an eye for and understanding of horses. The 240-page coffee-table volume dives into profiles and statistics of the horses that made, and continue to make, Usha the leading stud farm in India.