Although Enid Bagnold thought she was writing a book for adults, this timeless horse tale has been loved by readers 9 and up since it appeared in 1935, and it inspired the similarly classic 1944 film starring young Elizabeth Taylor and Mickey Rooney. Living in a Sussex village, 14-year-old Velvet Brown is mad about horses. When she wins a piebald horse in a raffle, she knows he's something special. After The Piebald clears a five-foot fence, Velvet and her trainer friend Mi ambitiously set their sights on winning the Grand National steeplechase, the biggest race in England. Velvet's biggest problem, however, is that she is a girl, and girls can't be jockeys—or can they?