The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

Nine Years Earlier........ It is the first day of November and so, today, someone will die.
Maggie is a killer for these lines to start off books. Tell me that have not got your interest, go on, I dare you!
Sean is on the beach with his father, today is race day. The beach is never safe, today it is dangerous. This is where you learn of the capiall uisce. The water horses. Deadly (meat eaters, including their riders). The men of the village race them, on race day. Sean takes to them naturally. Not that he will ride. His father rides a red stallion. Then dies by the teeth of a grey. Sean watches from the cliff.
I don't think often of my father's strung out body through the reddening surf. Instead I remember him as he was before the race: afraid. I won't make the same mistake.