Book Review: “Lexington: The Extraordinary Life and Turbulent Times of America's Legendary Racehorse”

On the surface, it seems far-fetched to believe that the racing environment of today is in any way similar to that of Lexington's heyday, but after the concluding Lexington: The Extraordinary Life and Turbulent Times of America's Legendary Racehorse (Kim Wickens, Random House, available July 11, 2023), it seems that those by-gone days, in some ways, bear striking resemblance to our modern racing industry.

To begin with the basics, the work is well-worded and seamlessly carries the reader from one point to the next without having to hold hands and is researched to a meticulous degree. Taking into account the obvious difficulties of preserving records from a period when the country was rife with upheaval, whether societal or political, it can be a daunting task to seek out things as minute as stud fees and purchase prices. Wickens has done her homework, and thus spared the rest of us the footwork if one was hoping to learn about a Thoroughbred who largely has become lore.

The preview promised a colorful cast of characters and, for better or worse, the story delivers. Sabotage from bitter competitors, the tragedy of Lexington's fading vision, and interstate rivalries peppered much of the early racing landscape. The bedlam–while scandalous at the core–provides for a most amusing reading. Humanity is prone to tantalizing willingness to forget that we all haven't changed too much from our racing forefathers on a visceral level. Not to any notable degree, in any case. Lexington was a horse who drew a fiercely loyal legion of fans, not much different from Secretariat or Flightline or the Zenyattas and Rachel Alexandras of the present day. Said stallion also appears in every last one of their pedigrees and in every Horse of the Year in the last 10 we've awarded the golden trophy; a note Wickens also makes in the back portion of the work.

Granted, though none of our readers are old enough to remember heats of four-mile races such as what the subject of the novel gleefully overcame, they vividly remember the emotions storied racehorses gave them. Like much of what all great philosophers and educated men have claimed, the adage rings true today: “the outside of the horse is good for the inside of the man”. In that regard, we as racing fans, racehorse owners, breeders, and industry participants haven't fallen far from the tree at all.

Curiously, not just the early life of all involved, but the rush to secure breeding rights and his offspring once Lexington's career on the track was finished–a feeling many prominent Kentucky farms undoubtedly understand–was a fascinating section to read through. Stolen horses, roving bands of ransom-favoring ruffians, the tale of son Asteroid's theft and subsequent recovery felt almost to the level of wild west fiction, but alas, such was the demand for progeny of a living legend. Of course, chronically, the life of proud men isn't complete without various expositions of just how heated venue stand-offs could be when it came to arranging match races, and it reminded me of much of the posturing we see today…just with less arguing about locations and more about who is ducking whom.

In the ensuing chaos brought by Civil War, those around the hallowed horse either danced on a fine line or went all in for displaying loyalty to their belief systems (however we feel about them now), but it could perhaps be argued that their faith to Kentucky bloodstock was by far their lasting legacy to the sport of racing. As painstakingly detailed in her novel, men like R. A. Alexander not only sourced the best and the most promising lines for a state caught in the middle of bloody disputes between her surrounding neighbors, but Alexander in particular could well be called the father of the Woodlawn Vase. It is his prized Lexington sitting atop, proudly at the pinnacle. It was he who commissioned it, and then buried it while war raged around him. His precaution is the reason we have something to display every year during the Preakness.

In all, I thoroughly enjoyed Lexington: The Extraordinary Life and Turbulent Times of America's Legendary Racehorse. It is a work worth the time to sink into and dissect, if one feels so inclined. There is a lot to marvel at and think on. Mainly, the similarities between now and a past many like to believe we've left far in our rear view mirrors.