so apparently fell forward, and in an attempt to catch his fall twisted the cannon bone in his right hind leg. This was disputed in a much later court hearing.
THE RUMORS BEGIN:
A lot of rumor, gossip, and innuendo have persisted over the past two decades, during which time I made a lot of TV appearances and gave numerous interviews. I always ended by saying if someone had knowledge of things happening any differently than I have described to please let me know. No one has responded.
Affirmed was in a stall in the aisle nearby and slept through it all… Everyone remembers their racing duels throughout the Triple Crown, but few knew these two competitors shared the same barn that fateful night.
That debate continues today. In order to respond to that debate, I have three questions to the doubters: Were you there the night the horse was injured? Were you there the morning of the surgery? Were you there when the horse was put down for humane reasons? Only a few people can say yes to all three and those are the only people who really know the injury as it occurred.
There was also a lot of second-guessing by vets who never saw the horse, did not see the X-rays, and did not participate in the surgery. One rumor had stablemate Secreto and Alydar in a fight. This apparently started when Dr. Baker had to give Secreto a shot to calm him down due to the excitement in the barn. It was late at night, the lights had been turned on, phones were ringing and beepers were going off, and there were a lot of people milling around.
Affirmed was in a stall in the aisle nearby and slept through it all. Everyone remembers the racing duels between Affirmed and Alydar throughout the Triple Crown but few remember they shared the same barn that night. The craziest rumor was made during the Rush Limbaugh radio program. This occurred during the later perjury trial of night watchman Alton Stone. Limbaugh had a guest host for that broadcast, and it was during the period when Congress had impeached President Bill Clinton. The radio commentator compared
Stone and Clinton and made mention of “that horse in Kentucky that died in the barn fire.”
Before we go to surgery, let’s talk a little about Alydar and why he was insured for more than $32 million. I represented that portion for the London insurance market and the remainder was with the Golden Eagle Insurance Company. Alydar was the only horse at that time to finish second in all three of the Triple Crown races, losing each time to Affirmed. He retired with 14 wins in 26 starts and earnings of $957,195.
Alydar is short for Aly Darling, which was the nickname Calumet Farm owner Mrs. Gene Markey had for her friend, the Aly Khan. Alydar’s 1990 stud fee was $250,000, or $175,000 for no guarantee. In his last year at stud he covered 97 mares, and his 32 yearlings that sold at public auction that year averaged $472,188. Lundy was heavily criticized for the number of mares bred to Alydar. Today, breeding 100-plus mares is quite common. At the time of his death, Alydar was No. 1 on the leading active sires list and No. 2 on the list of leading sires for 1990 earnings. A no guarantee season was sold at auction in 1990 for $126,000.
His first crop produced two millionaires with 45 stakes winners in 10 crops and earnings of $35 million. His produce included Alysheba, winner of $6.7 million, and Criminal Type, who would be named 1990 Horse of the Year. A large part of the insurance was for lifetime breeding rights, and these sold at various prices. By not syndicating the horse, Lundy was able to call all the shots and control the fees.
This might be a good time to mention some facts for all the conspiracy theorists, and they are still out there. Many have long thought Alydar was killed for insurance money. Considering the bad financial situation for Calumet Farm at that time, this is good meat for the uninformed and ill advised. The fact is, the farm’s financial problems were a well-kept secret, and I certainly wasn’t privy to the details. It is true that some of the insurance premiums were overdue, but the policies were never cancelled for non-payment and as long as they are not cancelled they offer all benefits. Many policies in the farming or livestock industry have premiums due during the year that are not paid until November or December. This practice goes back many years when tobacco farmers sold their crops at the end of the season and paid most of the farm debts at that time.
There were also rumors about the fact that the “regular” adjuster, Terry McVeigh, was not called about the horse’s injury. Kathy Jones had tried to call him but he wasn’t returning calls. This was long before cell phones and by the time he could find a phone to call his answering service, Kathy had already called me due to the horse involved, and she advised Terry of that fact. The following day, Golden Eagle did assign Terry to its interest and that next morning I shared all my notes with him. It is my understanding he was taken off the claim shortly thereafter. Terry had worked for me at one time, then left to form his own equine adjusting firm.
Due to the amount of insurance involved, I felt certain the London underwriters would be sending in squads of attorneys, accountants, private investigators, etc., but the case was left with me alone. Basically, I was instructed to handle the claim and I never received any specific instructions or orders. I’ve been told this was a compliment to me but I have often thought some extra eyes and minds might have helped me answer the pundits’ questions.
One other conspiracy theory was interesting. The night watchman that evening was Alton Stone, but he was supposed to be off. He replaced a fellow named Cowboy Kipp. According to later court testimony, one of the two men was approached a day or so before by someone in a blue Crown Victoria. This person was unknown by either but he instructed whoever he talked to about the change in the night watchman. During the FBI’s investigation of the whole matter, they were told about this car but they never did find out who the mystery driver was. I should note this FBI investigation was several years later (and we will cover that in detail coming up).
As agreed, everyone met back at Calumet Farm the morning after the injured horse was discovered. I began my written minute-by-minute report to the London underwriters at 6:30 a.m. J.T. Lundy had stayed up all night as had Dr. Rhodes and Sandy Hatfield, providing Alydar with TLC along with pain medications. Lundy still appeared to be in a state of shock. I have told many people since that time that if he was faking his concern, he should get both the Academy Award and an Emmy the same night.
Upon arrival I found the horse on his feet, but wobbly from the combined meds and the fact he was three-legged lame. Just after 7:00 a.m., efforts began to move Alydar to the equine ambulance.
He was to be taken to the farm’s state-of-the art veterinary clinic just a few minutes away. Due to the configuration of the stallion barn entrance, it was impossible to back the van into the aisle way and load the horse.
The vehicle was backed to the barn’s entrance and a number of farm employees literally carried Alydar to the ramp and then, in a mighty struggle, were able to get him up and into the van. He unloaded with less effort but still required a lot of muscle, everyone realizing what might happen if the horse went down.
Alydar arrives at the Calumet Farm clinic for surgery radiographs were taken at the clinic and the mid-shaft transverse fracture of the cannon bone in the right rear leg was confirmed. This is another opportunity to mention one of the many conspiracy theories. Several years later, during the perjury trial of night watchman Stone in Houston, the government made a big deal out of the “missing” X-ray films from the file cabinet in the vet’s office. In fact, I had a number of photos showing the results of the X-rays. The original film was a part of my records and when the IRS demanded all my files years later, the files included the films. The government had the films all along, but just didn’t look closely for them in their own records. Months after my testimony in the perjury trial, I asked for the return of my files and basically got a runaround. I was told they were somewhere in a Houston warehouse, but nobody seemed able to locate them.
Before surgery began, veterinarians Bramlage, Baker, and Rhodes discussed the “what if’s.” It was agreed that the biggest problem might be infection and a loss of blood supply due to the open compound fracture. In a worst-case scenario, the foot could simply just fall off.
At 8:55 a.m. Alydar was placed under general anesthesia by another vet from Rood and Riddle and lifted onto the operating table. In order to stabilize