American Thoroughbred is Neil Latham’s photographic study of the American racehorse. Made over three years of work across the United States, the project approaches its subjects through close attention to physical presence. Muscular form, a turn of the head, or the surface around an eye can carry the force of a portrait. The horses emerge as individual subjects as well as animals shaped by the demands of racing.

Latham photographed on film with medium- and large-format cameras, using natural light and a portable black backdrop. This approach separates the animals from much of their everyday surroundings and concentrates attention on shape and gesture. Time spent at racecourses and breeding farms allowed observation to become part of the working method. The black-and-white photographs hold strength and delicacy together, inviting attention to a living body rather than simply an emblem of speed.

Twin Palms Publishers issued the monograph in 2016. The large hardcover runs to 182 pages and measures approximately fourteen by sixteen inches. Its scale gives substantial space to details of anatomy and expression. The project was also presented at Steven Kasher Gallery in the year of publication, connecting the book with an exhibition of the photographs. As a volume, it brings the sustained investigation into a form that can be revisited at the reader’s own pace.

The work invites comparison between the public image of the Thoroughbred and the quieter act of looking closely at a particular animal. A photograph can suggest power without showing a race, and vulnerability without turning the horse into a symbol. That tension gives the book its focus. Latham’s extended attention makes small variations in posture, light, and bodily detail central to the experience of viewing.