The book set me up for certain expectations that it didn't necessarily deliver on. I went into the book expecting the book to be mainly about the races themselves, but there was only about 10 pages on the races and they were anticlimatic at best. My whole issue is that I don't understand the point of the races, what do they prove, what do they solve, what is the tradition and how they started it. They might have mentioned it, but I was so read to just read about the races, that I might have skipped over it. However, it was a well written book with interesting characters and mythology, but it was just not what I was expecting. It should have been called A Boy and His Horse and A Fiery redhead girl (I'm tired of seeing this trope by the way), but I guess the Scorpio Races rolls off the tongue better. =/ 
 Edit*: I rated it higher because I was just thinking about the simple lifestyle she portrayed and the quietness of the novel.