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Wild Ride: The Rise and Tragic Fall of Calumet Farm Inc., America's Premier Racing Dynasty [Paperback]

Ann Hagedorn Auerbach
4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)

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Book Description

December 15, 1995
Using many never-reported facts, award-winning writer Anne Hagedorn Auerbach chronicles the compelling and tragic story behind the downfall of Thoroughbred racing's crown jewel.

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Wild Ride: The Rise and Tragic Fall of Calumet Farm Inc., America's Premier Racing Dynasty + The Bluegrass Conspiracy: An Inside Story of Power, Greed, Drugs and Murder + The Cornbread Mafia: A Homegrown Syndicate's Code of Silence and the Biggest Marijuana Bust in American History
Price for all three: $48.31

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Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Journalist Auerbach untangles the spiderweb of financial machinations that enveloped, consumed, and ultimately destroyed one of the most famous horseracing stables in the world. Through three generations of the Wright family, Calumet led, lost, and regained its preeminence as a breeding farm and racing stable only to lose everything, including the family's fortune, in the fourth generation. Chronicling the history of Calumet and its fall into the depths of massive debt, this well-researched, fast-paced book sheds new light on the destruction of Calumet and exposes the excesses of the 1980s. Highly recommended.
Susan Hamburger, Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

An absorbing account of how Kentucky's Calumet Farm, long thoroughbred racing's paramount breeding stable, came a cropper in the 1990s.

Drawing on interviews with many of the principals and a voluminous public record, Wall Street Journal correspondent Auerbach provides a generation-spanning chronicle that ranges from the legendary stable's founding by a baking-powder magnate during the early years of the century through its sale at auction in 1992. Owned by the Wright family, Calumet bestrode the sport of kings like a colossus, breeding more Triple Crown winners than any of its rivals and setting the pace in a high-stakes enterprise. In mid- 1982, however, Lucille Parker Wright Markey died at 93, and control of the farm passed to a son-in-law, John Thomas (aka J.T.) Lundy, a good-ole-boy local whom the matriarch had treated with all the warmth accorded a poor relation. In piecing together how J.T. managed to bankrupt a prospering institution less than a decade after gaining the whip hand, Auerbach leaves little doubt that he was never up to the job intellectually or psychologically. The arriviste squire of Calumet used his status to wheel and deal on a fast global track during much of the 1980s. Backed by international bankers, Wall Street money men, mobsters (including a couple of John Gotti's capos), and nouveau riche investors clamoring for a piece of the action, he took an early lead in his run for the roses, but changes in federal tax law, overbreeding throughout the industry, a crushing debt burden, and other handicaps brought him down. Lundy's fall put paid to Calumet. An era ended with the dispersal of the farm's bloodstock and the property's acquisition by an outsider.

A sorry tale, well told, that lends new meaning to the phrase "riding for a fall." (8 pages b&w photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.


Product Details

  • Paperback: 480 pages
  • Publisher: Holt Paperbacks (December 15, 1995)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0805042423
  • ISBN-13: 978-0805042429
  • Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6 x 1.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (47 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #111,688 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Author did a great job of telling this almost unbelieveable story with detail. Ms. Lynn Ousley  |  9 reviewers made a similar statement
Highly recommended for a great read, and not just for horse lovers. William Gibson  |  9 reviewers made a similar statement
It is really sad. Deborah Webb  |  6 reviewers made a similar statement
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
32 of 33 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant. This is a GREAT story. October 19, 2001
Format:Paperback
This book is amazing. Sure it's a fun tale, brilliantly told, of one of the most famous horse farms in history. But it's so much more. It's also a fantastic insight into excess and fraud and how businessmen commit it. Read it for the blood and guts and glory of horse racing. The story of Calumet is wonderful. But hang onto your hats. Auerbach's indepth investigative journalism shows the anatomy of a swindle. How J.T. Lundy, owner of Calumet, and his cohorts turned the most beautiful animals in the world into cash machines. How they debased the tradition of one of the noblest sports. Auerbach is undaunted by the complicated financial shinnegans that these people concocted to billk banks out of millions. In fact, I believe that her reporting is the reason that Lundy wound up getting indicted and convicted. And she tells it in such a compelling way that even someone who can't add 2 plus 2 can see how the rich sometimes get richer at our expense. Read it and weep. But know that in the end, justice was done.
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22 of 23 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Review of Wild Ride November 1, 2001
Format:Paperback
Ann Auerback's investigational story is a compelling journey into a rarely discussed aspect of horse racing.
Auerbach details the history of Calumet Farm, once America's most famous Kentucky horsefarm. The author's love of horses is evident in her detailed account of events. It took much courage for Ann Auerbach to uncover and discover the truth about Calumet's fall. It will also take some backbone for Alydar fans and horselovers to read the facts presented.
I read this book for two reasons. I wanted to understand how a farm like Calumet could go from the best to the worst.I also needed to know what happened to Alydar after his racing fans were no longer watching him. Wild Ride answered both of my questions in a methodical and journalistic style.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read for Thoroughbred historians April 2, 2002
Format:Hardcover
Reads like a novel. An interesting peek inside one of the nation's most famous farms. Our copy has made the rounds of our barn many times, each border has read it at least twice. At times "Wild Ride" is sad, almost gut-wrenching, sometimes it can be rather amusing, and other times it reads like a Dick Francis murder mystery. This book belongs on every horseperson's desk. A valuable insight into early Thoroughbred history.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Couldn't put it down!
Highly recommended for a great read, and not just for horse lovers. Very well written, highly researched true story about how a couple of stupid greedy guys destroyed an empire. Read more
Published 3 days ago by William Gibson
3.0 out of 5 stars Struggle
I got this book for my Kindle lite for my wife to read and she has been trying to get through it for a long time now.
Published 7 days ago by Jonathan Andy
3.0 out of 5 stars boring
I had to read this book for a class and I found it very boring and wordy. I love reading, but I to force myself to finish it. Read more
Published 20 days ago by tralph
5.0 out of 5 stars In The Gate, All Horses
Speedo Hydrospex Swim GoggleOnce the world wore large hats and red carnations at the lapel of tall men with curled programs at hand, their sharp eyes anticipating the bells at the... Read more
Published 1 month ago by Louis J. Profeta
5.0 out of 5 stars I was a former employee of Calumet back in the mid 60's so I had to...
I read this book with a lot of sorrow about Calumet. I worked for H.A. Jimmy Jones in the 60's and I had to leave because the Viet Nam war was causing young men like me to be... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Steve
3.0 out of 5 stars This is an Awful Story
If you like watching a train wreck, read this. It seems lightly written, and really gruesome when it comes to the part where Alydar gets exploited. Read more
Published 4 months ago by Carol Chase Mcelheney
5.0 out of 5 stars Wild Ride
If you ever wanted to get into the thourall bred race horse business you MUST read this. An excellent indepth story of the true inside world. Read more
Published 5 months ago by Cav Mikee
5.0 out of 5 stars wild ride, the rise and fall of calumet farm
The book was great,, the only book i have read in the last several years that I want to read again..........
Published 6 months ago by curtis smith
5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent, couldn't put it down
How could this happen? So many people involved. Better than any fiction. Couldn't stop reading to find out what happens next. Read more
Published 7 months ago by Lindsey
5.0 out of 5 stars "Cal Lumet & Sydney Lumet - Separated At Birth?"
Wild Ride, The Rise & Tragic Fall of Calumet Farm, Inc., Ann Hagedorn Auerbach; Henry Holt & Co. (1994; brief notes on, written about a decade ago; post-note added)... Read more
Published 9 months ago by Don Reed
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