Random House Publishing Group
Featuring: Lexington
416 pages ISBN: 0593496701 EAN: 9780593496701 Kindle: B0BL6Q5YQL Hardcover / e-Book Add to Wish List
The American nineteenth-century story unrolls for our benefit, the hardships, adventures, splendours, and accomplishments of the day. While the central point of the lively narrative is the tough racehorse LEXINGTON, be prepared to learn a great deal about New Orleans, riverboat gambling, transportation of valuable horses, the position of freed stable workers, war, and much more.
A brave racehorse called Boston beat all comers, and his foal named Darley, after an ancestor the Darley Arabian, caught the eye of Richard Ten Broeck. This man had left West Point and was looking for a job more suited to his talents. He gambled on riverboats and amassed a sum of money to set himself up in racing. The same man was later to manage and even own racetracks. But buying Darley, renamed Lexington, gave him his entry into society. At this time, racehorses were suitable for army campaigners, able to stay all day. A race consisted of heats and a horse had to win two. Younger horses ran over short distances and a maturing horse had to cover four miles – in each heat. Jockeys were often changed in the interval and horses were intensively treated to make sure they could continue. Lexington had to be travelled to compete, but once recovered, he just kept on winning prizes and setting records even after an inflammation began robbing him of his sight by increments.
Robert Aitcheson Alexander, who inherited a Scots ironworks, bought the majestic horse when he retired to stud. Lexington’s blood improved the Thoroughbred racehorse, with the devoted and detail-oriented owner establishing the first American stud books. Kentucky became a trouble spot during the Civil War. Soldiers on both sides needed remounts frequently, horses not being properly resourced and dying of hunger and exhaustion on marches. Confederate guerilla gangs included Quantrill's Raiders and a sometimes cross-dressing (because they stole clothes, watches and anything not bolted down, then burned the rest) gangster nicknamed Sue Mundy. Not only was Lexington at risk, so were all the other horses on the stud farm, including his mighty son Asteroid. Some of the content is heartbreaking for a horse lover to read. On the other hand, General Grant greatly valued his charger Cincinnati by Lexington, keeping the horse for his exclusive use.
Kim Wickens is a dressage rider who researched the whole history of this much-loved racehorse, which made headlines and inspired a nation. She began with a brief Wikipedia page and a long list of winners sired by or in line from Lexington. I love how she includes social aspects such as Creole or Black jockeys and stable managers, with greatly varying working conditions, and the origins of many factors in the sport of horse racing across America. The final section – some of it again is too hard to read, but it involves the location of the displayed skeleton of the horse. And the dogged work that was required to rescue it from a museum attic. Read for yourself if you have an interest in American history, in horses and in the changing times. I learned a great deal and would undoubtedly come back to LEXINGTON for reference.
The dramatic true story of the champion Thoroughbred racehorse who gained international fame in the tumultuous Civil War–era South, and became the most successful sire in American racing history
The early days of American horse racing were grueling. Four-mile races, run two or three times in succession, were the norm, rewarding horses who brandished the ideal combination of stamina and speed. The stallion Lexington, named after the city in Kentucky where he was born, possessed these winning qualities, which pioneering Americans prized.
Lexington shattered the world speed record for a four-mile race, showing a war-torn nation that the extraordinary was possible even in those perilous times. He would continue his winning career until deteriorating eyesight forced his retirement in 1855. But once his groundbreaking achievements as a racehorse ended, his role as a sire began. Horses from his bloodline won more money than the offspring of any other Thoroughbred—an annual success that led Lexington to be named America’s leading sire an unprecedented sixteen times.
Yet with the Civil War raging, Lexington’s years at a Kentucky stud farm were far from idyllic. Confederate soldiers ran amok, looting freely and kidnapping horses from the top stables. They soon focused on the prized Lexington and his valuable progeny.
Kim Wickens, a lawyer and dressage rider, became fascinated by this legendary horse when she learned that twelve of Thoroughbred racing's thirteen Triple Crown winners descended from Lexington. Wickens spent years meticulously researching the horse and his legacy—and with Lexington, she presents an absorbing, exciting account that transports readers back to the raucous beginning of American horse racing and introduces them to the stallion at its heart.
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