Written by Josh Pons; foreword by Evan Hammonds. Paperback, 222 pages.
"In 2016, Josh Pons discovered thousands of letters from his grandfather Adolphe Pons' life in the Thoroughbred horse business. The son of a French cook in the Gilded Age mansions of banker August Belmont II, Pons immigrated to New York City at the age of five in 1888. In time, he became Belmont’s personal secretary and played a major role in Belmont’s breeding and sale of the most famous horse in history: Man o’ War. During the Great Depression, Adolphe left New York and bought a hundred-acre horse farm in Maryland, naming it Country Life.
In expanded form, Josh Pons draws upon the popular column he wrote for three years for BloodHorse magazine, inviting readers along as he unearths long-lost voices of Gilded Age tycoons, their voices speaking out of century-old letters, telegrams, their images in never-before-seen photos. An epic story set against the backdrop of World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II. The result is a fascinating chronicle and fresh look at the Golden Age of Horse Racing and how the past influences our present."
