An athletic boy, he excelled at tennis and track, winning a citywide championship in the latter sport as a young teen. Growing up, Farley dreamed of having a horse one day, and when his uncle, a professional horseman, moved from the West coast to Syracuse and opened his horse training stables, it came like a gift to young Farley. Suddenly he was able to partly live out his dream of having a horse, able to spend time at his uncle's stables. This uncle trained racehorses of all types, from runners to jumpers and trotters and pacers. Farley was thus able to learn many different racing styles and receive an education in dressage and horse care at the same time, knowledge he put to good use in his books. With the end of prohibition in the early 1930s, the Farley family moved to New York City, where the father resumed his former trade as manager of the bar and grill rooms at the city's Roosevelt Hotel.
Another early passion for Farley was reading, especially books about horses. Reading quickly paved the way for writing, and he began penning short stories when he was eleven years of age.
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