Vivien Goodman Malloy, the Thoroughbred breeder who owns and runs Edition Farm and racing stable in Hyde Park, New York, has recently published a memoir detailing her family's against-the-odds journey from modest roots in Havana to the high life in New York City and beyond.
Central to the 88-year-old entrepreneur's family history is a deep appreciation of horses, and Malloy is donating a portion of the proceeds from My Life as a Long Shot: From Cuba to Rye to benefit the Retired Racehorse Project (RRP).
Two of the book's 13 chapters deal with Malloy's entry into the horse world, starting in 1971 when she converted a tractor shed on the family's property into a small pony barn.
The operation grew and moved to a larger site in 1986, and Malloy candidly admits that once she made the commitment to raise Thoroughbreds, she had to learn the ins and outs of the commercial breeding and racing businesses “the hard way” because at first her experience level did not match her unbridled enthusiasm.
But persistence paid off, and now, more than three decades later, Malloy recounts in her book how a life surrounded by horses also provided her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren with valuable life lessons.
Malloy was also a proponent of “second career” options for retired racers long before that concept became widely embraced.
“My mind, my spirit, my physical being are dedicated to the farm and how it's run,” Malloy writes. “I'm not breeding for the [GI] Kentucky Derby, although I'd love to win it. I'm not breeding to win the Breeders' Cup, but I'd love to win that too. I am breeding to produce a horse who can run for many years, who has stamina and can either do the job on the track or in another discipline after racing.”
Published by Small Batch Books, My Life as a Long Shot is available via this link to Amazon.
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