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Reading, Smashing, and Playing Ulysses
Igoe, Vivien. "‘Spot the Winner’: Some of the Horses in Ulysses." Dublin James Joyce Journal 4, no. 1 (2011): 72–86.
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Link to citation page: https://www.worldcat.org/title/spot-the-winner-again-another-horse-in-iulyssesi/oclc/4959938080&referer=brief_results
Link to full text: http://muse.jhu.edu/login?auth=0&type=summary&url=/journals/dublin_james_joyce_journal/v005/5.igoe.html
Igoe addresses the horses that are mentioned throughout Ulysses, and goes into detail about the events of the 1904 Gold Cup race, a significant event in Joyce's novel. The article is named after a "headline" from "Aeolus" which precedes a discussion of the race (U 7.386). Igoe dives into the historical and factual background of all of the horses mentioned, including those who ran in the Gold Cup race and the horses in a painting Stephen looks at in Deasy's office in "Nestor," among others (U 2.300-04). Igoe also addresses the controversial Nevertell, who Molly supposedly picked to win a race at Leopardstown on an outing with Mr. and Mrs. Breen (U 15.546-7). According to Igoe's research, this is the one horse that Joyce did not portray with complete historical accuracy, but Igoe suggests that Nevertell might have been based on a real horse named Never Again who did run at Leopardstown—especially since the winning bet would, just as Bloom says happened in Circe (U 15), have "won Molly seven shillings!" (Igoe 79). Igoe's fact-checking and analysis is based on primary sources, such as newspaper records of races, mostly from The Irish Times and Evening Telegraph, to give readers a thorough historical background on all of Ulysses' horses.
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