The amount of disgust I felt while reading this book....I am simply unable to express using the written word. I learned a lot from it, and it was hard to put down, so I suppose it served the purpose it was meant to. I am glad to have it in my collection.

Calumet Farm was founded by William Monroe Wright in 1924. The farm originally was for the breeding and harness racing of Standardbreds. (This is also a really fun sport. The only horse race I have been able to watch in person was at Bluegrass Downs where they were doing some harness racing.) William Monroe Wright's son took over the farm and converted it to Thoroughbred breeding and racing. A lot of big name horses came out of this farm: Whirlaway, Citation, Pensive, and Alydar just to name a few. Unfortunately, Alydar is one of the centers of this book. Most racing fans know what happened to Alydar, as well as the speculation and controversy surrounding his "accident" and death. The granddaughter and her sorry, shady, piece of absolute TRASH husband took over the farm after the death of her grandparents (her father died before her grandmother). That husband was irresponsible, disgusting, and crude. He put a multi million dollar business into bankruptcy, did his best to blacken the family name and achievements, and put a horrible stain on horse racing. What happened to Alydar was NOT an accident, in my opinion, by any stretch of the imagination. He was a swindler and a rascal. Absolutely disgusting. Calumet was auctioned off and taken over by Henryk Kwiatkowski for $17 million dollars. He returned the grounds and business to a reputable standard, which is the farm I grew to know. Currently, the farm is ran by his family and trustees.

Growing up, Calumet Farm was a name that I knew well. They had some really amazing horses that I enjoyed seeing run. I never knew the sordid part of the farm's history, as it was well over by the time I was old enough to get into horses and racing. After reading this, I wound up on social media, where I saw some posts from Calumet. I felt absolutely disgusted, knowing the things that happened. I really had to sit and have a chat with myself about the rationality of that. It was just completely disgraceful. I hope very much that the new owners can continue the uphill climb and high standards. I wish that I could tour this farm when I am in Kentucky in a few months to see other racing sites, though I think I would be very emotional about it.