Lexington
The Extraordinary Life and Turbulent Times of America's Legendary Racehorse
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5.0 • 5 Ratings
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- $5.99
Publisher Description
NATIONAL BESTSELLER • “A vivid portrait of America’s greatest stallion, the larger-than-life men who raced and bred him, and the dramatic times in which they lived.”—Geraldine Brooks, author of Horse
The powerful 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
WINNER OF THE DR. TONY RYAN BOOK AWARD FOR EXCELLENCE IN THOROUGHBRED RACING LITERATURE
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.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this colorful debut biography, equestrian Wickens relates the life and legacy of the eponymous equine, who was foaled near his namesake city in Kentucky in 1850. Though Lexington's light frame, paired with a broad chest, wide jawbone and nostrils, and muscular legs, gave him the build of a runner, he spent his early years untrained due to the ill health of his owner, Dr. Elisha Warfield. Eventually, Warfield sold the "resolute" horse to Harry Lewis, a freed Black horse trainer whose skill Wickens credits with putting Kentucky at the top of "the national competition to produce winning horses." Wickens notes that not only was Lexington the first horse in more than 100 years to break the world speed record, in 1855 (running four miles in just under seven minutes and 20 seconds), but his record as a sire of winning horses remains unrivaled. The book settles into a steady canter as readers are introduced to Civil War Kentucky and its marauding, horse-thieving guerrillas, while the conclusion's cool-down trot focuses on the afterlife of Lexington's bones, which were hidden in an attic of the Smithsonian in the 1950s, resurrected for a Timex ad in 1999, and eventually returned to Lexington, Ky., for display in the 2000s. Lovers of both history and horses will take enjoyment from this thoroughly told tale.
