Horse Tales - American Classic Pedigrees

When You're the Expert

10/1/2026

Last week, my husband decided to make use of an AI program he's found useful to give me some hints as to how I can come up with more information on Sam "Chief" Johnson and incorporate them into a compelling biography/history. (For those who haven't been following my quixotic quest before now, "Chief" was a half-white, half-Cherokee jockey who was well known on the western racing circuit of a century or so ago as much for his mental agility, cocky attitude, and quick retorts as for his riding skills; he came to my attention when I was researching the work that became Dream Derby: The Myth and Legend of Black Gold because he was the exercise rider who broke the legendary Kentucky Derby winner Black Gold to the saddle.) The AI came back with a couple of solid tips for further research, but the part I found both hilarious and frustrating was that most of the information sources cited came back to one person: me.

Now, I have some degree of knowledge about various things related to Thoroughbred pedigrees and racing history. I've written hundreds of magazine articles on these topics as well as six books. I've even been cited by other authors and researchers as an authoritative source from time to time, which I suppose qualifies me as an expert of sorts. But if I am the reigning expert on one Sam "Chief" Johnson, then I may well fit the definition of an expert often attributed to Columbia University president Nicholas Murray Butler: someone who knows more and more about less and less until he [she] knows everything about nothing.

"Chief" Johnson is hardly nothing, of course: he was a living, breathing human being who made himself memorable on sheer force of personality. And the research I'm doing is being done precisely because I don't know everything there is to know about him, short of those parts of any man's soul that are known only to God. There is a real sense in which knowing this one relatively obscure man becomes knowledge of the times he lived in and the lives of many others like him, who lived on the ragged edges of society and pursued a risky profession in a world that had very few safety nets. That's the world and the man I hope to bring to life. Nevertheless, this seems to be one area in which I am truly blazing a trail, or at least trying to. And I guess that makes me the expert, whether I feel I merit the title or not.

Be Wary

8/13/2026

Scams have long awaited the unwary in the writing world. Historically, most have consisted of pitches to get a manuscript reviewed or published, with would-be authors being led to unqualified editors or reviewers who demand inflated fees for what proves to be substandard work, "agents" who have no track record for anything but separating writers from their money through up-front fees, or unscrupulous vanity presses that are anything but clear and upfront regarding the services they provide. Unfortunately, an increasing number of scams target established authors who (not unreasonably) want to increase their sales or branch out into another area of writing.

Two of the most common scams out there are the fake "book club" and the out-of-the-blue contact from someone who claims to represent a major publishing house. The first type contacts an author with a complimentary assessment of one of the author's books, followed by an offer to increase awareness of the book by having it presented before a book club that supposedly has several hundred to several thousand members. If the author expresses interest, the scammer will then attempt to inveigle the author into paying a fee of at least several hundred dollars and sometimes more for "presentation costs," "professional reviews," or any other plausible-sounding term that translates to coughing up money for the privilege of being presented before a probably nonexistent book club. The bottom line is that legitimate book clubs don't charge authors for the clubs' discussing their books or for making appearances before a club on-line or in person.

The second type of scam depends on an author's overlooking the fact that major publishing houses don't generally go headhunting for anyone who isn't already a high-profile author; they get far more submissions than they can ever use from lesser lights and from previously unpublished writers, and they are very careful about it when they do try to recruit established talent, since they don't want to run afoul of contract disputes. The "out-of-the-blue" scam targets self-published authors and those who have been published through smaller houses that don't require representation by a literary agent. The initial pitch may come from someone impersonating an actual acquisitions editor from the company. After some initial flattery and some probing regarding the author's past work and present projects, the hook is then thrown out: the editor will either give hope that a contract for a project may be offered or may offer a referral to a literary agent who can help you develop and sell your project. The reality, of course, is that the contract will never materialize and the "agent" is either the scammer's partner or an AI-generated front for the impersonator. What the scam is fishing for is either up-front fees that reputable editors and agents do not require or your sending in an unpublished manuscript that can be pirated for rewriting via AI---or both.

One of the major tells for this second type of scam is that the initial contact comes from a personal Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, or similar account rather than from an address indicating corporate affiliation. For example, legitimate staff members at my own publisher, the University Press of Kentucky, use an address in the form of [email protected] when transacting professional business. If impersonating an actual staff member, scammers will also often use a title that the actual person does not or may misspell the person's name. If a search comes up with a webpage purporting to belong to the staff member, look for signs of sloppy or hasty construction, along with evidence suggesting AI generation. Look for similar signs regarding a supposed "agent"---legitimate agents use professional addresses affiliated with their companies (or addresses that are clearly separate from their personal email accounts if self-employed), have webpages that are clean and well-constructed, and can generally be found in professional directories maintained by reputable sources such as Writer's Digest. "Agents" who tout their involvement with nonexistent books and authors (or authors who have been dead for a while) are also not that uncommon, so do your homework regarding an agent's claims.

For more information about scams targeting authors, check out Writer Beware - Shining a small, bright light in a wilderness of writing scams. It's a great resource (it's sponsored by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association) and comes recommended by some of the major publishing outfits. And if you have been unlucky enough to be stung by a scam, don't be too upset with yourself. Scammers are experts at using your emotions and intellect against you, so put the blame where it belongs---on them. Learn from the experience and, if you can bear to do so, share it with others in your writing circle so that they don't fall victim too.

An Evening with the Author at Keeneland

8/6/2026

After the confusion and stress of a move from Florida to Lexington, Kentucky, the pleasure of attending the Keeneland Library's "Evening with the Author" program last night could not have been more welcome. The speaker was longtime racing writer Lenny Shulman, whose latest book, A.P. Indy: Champion Racehorse and Breed-Shaping Sire, was the topic of the presentation. Released in May, the book, along with my own Holy Bull: An Unconventional Path to Racing Glory, kicked off the University Press of Kentucky's new "Racing Royalty" series, showcasing some of the outstanding horses of the last few decades.

For Shulman, A.P. Indy was a life-changer as well as a breed-changer. His love for this remarkable horse came alive during the session, during which he recounted anecdotes from his own writing career as well as the racing and breeding history of a horse who, despite the honors he received during his lifetime, was perhaps never as much appreciated as he should have been. Shulman used his intimate knowledge of the Thoroughbred industry to provide details regarding A.P. Indy's background and supporting cast, enriching both his writing and the experience of his presentation.

The "Evening with the Author" programs at Keeneland always provide a pleasant opportunity to interact with other lovers of the Thoroughbred and of good writing during the question-and answer session after an author's presentation and during the reception to follow---not to mention a chance to sample the artistry of Keeneland's hospitality staff, whose hors d'oeuvres are always superb. For those who had to miss the August program, I hope that at least some of you will be able to attend the program on September 2 (for which I will be the guest speaker) and experience a lovely literary evening with a Keeneland flair.

When You're Wrong

7/2/2026

Human communication is inevitably subject to error. Sometimes errors are inadvertent or unintended. Sometimes errors are deliberate and deceptive. And, sooner or later, if you write, you will be accused of error (or, more gently, have it pointed out to you). Realizing that you have made a mistake is painful enough, but the pain is compounded if you find yourself accused of some moral fault, whether deception or some real or imagined slight against someone's sensitivities.

Now, if you have deliberately lied, or you meant every bit of offense you put into something that you said, it's time to put on your adult pants and deal with the fallout as best you may. Telling the very people you targeted that they "misheard" you or that you never said what everyone blasted well knows you said is either juvenile whining against the blowback or a display of contempt for the intelligence of the people you were deceiving and insulting. If you choose to gaslight others on top of being rude or malicious, on your head be it. But suppose that you have made an honest mistake. What then?

Most of the time, if you have merely made a factual error, simply acknowledging the mistake and correcting it suffices. You can even give a shout-out to the person who cared enough about the matter to bring it to your attention. Unless given good reason to think otherwise, assume the party who pointed out your error acted in good faith, and you'll be the happier for it. Even if you sense a "Gotcha!" attitude, it's still better to take the high road. Honesty and humility will get you much further than a prideful refusal to admit you're wrong.

When you stand accused of moral failure (real or imagined), the situation is much touchier, but again, honesty and humility are your best friends. I am not speaking of groveling before a social media mob or those whose attacks are more about their own sense of self-righteousness than any interest in anyone's actual good. But if you have looked yourself in the mirror as honestly as you are able and have humbly acknowledged any real hurt that you believe that you did---or, if you are honestly holding to deeply held convictions and realize that you cannot deny them without destroying your own integrity or betraying something you hold dearer than your own comfort, your social status, your livelihood, or even your life, no matter how much you wish your stand was not unwelcome or even painful to others---then make whatever apologies you truly believe are needful and stand your ground otherwise with as much wisdom, grace, and courage as you can scrape together for yourself and as much compassion for your enemies as you can muster. If you can remember that even the ugliest things hurled your way come from people who are themselves flawed, broken, and often hurting, you will be one step closer to acknowledging our shared humanity and need for redemption and one step further away from becoming a monster.

History and Gratitude

4/30/2026

I have recently returned to trying to trace the trail of Chief Johnson through his early life, with little more success than before. Some of this is due to the areas in which he was born and raised. There were no parishes there to supply church records, the U.S. Census didn't get around to the Oklahoma and Indian territories until 1890, and prior to the 1870s, many people in those areas never went through formal wedding ceremonies, meaning that, even if they lived as husband and wife for decades in common-law marriages. there are no marriage licenses on file. Birth certificates? If lucky, there is a record in a family Bible or a church register; if not, the chance of finding an official birth registration is slim outside the largest cities of the region. Death certificates are equally hard to come by; for instance, the state of Texas didn't start requiring all Texas counties to issue death certificates until 1903.

Even if any records were kept, they often fell victim to fire and war, as happened with the archives held in official buildings in the Cherokee Nation's capital of Tahlequah, which were lost during the Civil War. If there were ever records of Chief Johnson's Cherokee mother or her marriage, they were probably casualties of a conflict that tore the Cherokee people apart as bitterly as it did whites in the eastern states. Poor storage conditions also led to loss of documents that might have supplied written history. For most people whose activities did not bring them to the attention of those newspapers that still have archives available, time was a river that carried them into oblivion, at least so far as human memory is concerned.

Although my search hasn't turned up much in the way of hard facts, it has introduced me to a nineteenth-century world much different from the one I now inhabit---and, frankly, a world that brings home to me how soft and spoiled I am. Consider just these facts, which informed the worldview of periodicals of the time:

At least three in every ten children didn't make it to adulthood, and most of the lost children died before the age of five.
Diseases such as malaria, cholera, influenza, measles, and smallpox were part of life and caused much early mortality. There were no vaccinations available for most of these maladies.
Accidents involving horses were commonplace, due both to the animals' skittish or aggressive behavior and to human negligence, recklessness, and cruelty. Modern medical care probably could have saved many victims but was not around then.
Infected wounds were another constant hazard in an age without antibiotics or antiseptic agents. A small cut picked up during the course of a day's work on the farm or in one's trade could be fatal if blood poisoning set in.
Weather-related delays in transportation and services as well as destruction caused by storms and deaths related to temperature extremes (particularly cold) were commonplace.
Racial and sex-related attitudes that would be considered shocking today were widespread among people at all social levels and from varied ethnic backgrounds.
Cities struggled with sanitation problems similar to those seen in developing countries today, with disposal of human and animal waste being a constant issue. Contaminated water and associated disease were common.

There is a great deal more that could be said, but I for one am very glad to be living now, with the necessities of life readily available, a greater range of opportunities available to me as a woman, and a wide array of comforts and amusements available on even a modest income, including everyday luxuries that a king could not obtain in the pre-World War I world. If history teaches nothing else, perhaps it should teach gratitude for having what we do instead of whining about what we don't.

Look Before You Leap

4/2/2026

All of us have had that moment when we have realized that something we said was untrue, foolish, hurtful, or a leap to an unwarranted conclusion. (Open mouth, insert foot, chew vigorously; when tired of flavor, change feet.) We can apologize profusely and sincerely, but we can't unsay what has been said. If lucky, it is maganimously forgiven and forgotten, or it takes on a more humorous existence as the butt of a long-running joke among family or friends. If not lucky, it rankles in someone's memory or travels from ear to ear as a rumor, continuing to cause damage as it goes.

Writing has always had its hazards too regarding saying what cannot be unsaid, but prior to the advent of modern communications, its impact was apt to be limited unless it somehow found its way into print. But now, when you can be your own publisher at the click of a button, the problem of hasty words is magnified. Once posted on a forum, blog, or website, your words are essentially immortal. Even if deleted after you have thought better of what you have said, they may be resurrected to continue doing harm, and they can come back to haunt you at any time. Even things that were said anonymously can often be traced back to their source, the more so now that AI can build up an electronic "fingerprint" based on your vocabulary, writing style, interests, and known leanings.

What brought these thoughts to mind was the recent brouhaha surrounding Canadian champion Ginger Brew, which started when Last Chance Direct Ship Horses---a Texas kill pen which uses its Facebook page to advertise horses that will be sent to slaughter if not ransomed---posted the mare's photo on March 23. Within 45 minutes of the ad's posting, Michigan rescue operator Gail Hirt saw the ad and promptly ponied up the US$1,400 to buy the mare and get her out of danger.

As fast as Hirt acted, posts hit the Internet even faster, most of them screaming blame at someone. First it was breeder-owner Adena Springs, but a modicum of research would have revealed that Adena Springs had not owned Ginger Brew since her sale for US$90,000 through the 2021 Keeneland November. This was hardly a case of dumping an unwanted animal without any regard to her well-being. While Ginger Brew was being culled from the Adena Springs broodmare band, she was 16, believed in foal to the good stallion Hard Spun, and could reasonably have been expected to produce more foals after 2022. She was bought by Mark Collinsworth's Forks of the Paluxy Farm for the harem of their newly purchased stallion, Grade 1 winner Mr Speaker.

As soon as that came out, Collinsworth was the next party under fire, and it turned out that the venom flung his way was equally undeserved. As reported by The Blood-Horse and Paulick Report, he had given the mare to someone else who checked out as a reliable horse person and wanted to try breeding her. The mare failed to get in foal, and that person, in turn, ended up giving the mare to someone who claimed he wanted a family horse for his children---a common ruse for dishonest dealers, who promise a good retirement home and then haul the horse off to auction or slaughter. More than a few well-meaning but naive horse owners have been deceived in this fashion.

Then, of course, there were those who wanted to excoriate the entire horse industry for not providing absolute safety for every horse from the foaling box to death from sheer old age. Certainly, everything that can be done to ensure that horses are cared for and treated humanely throughout their lives should be done, but utopian ideals are no more possible to fulfill for horses than they are for humans. Oddly enough, the people who seem to have largely escaped the media firestorm are the person who got Ginger Brew on false pretenses and the kill pen operator, which two would seem to me to be the most culpable for the whole mess.

Ginger Brew is safe now, but the damage done to Adena Springs (which has long had a good retirement program) and Collinsworth by a public rush to judgment remain, and neither is likely to receive any apologies from those who chose to prove how much they "cared" by hastily posting unfounded accusations. So, let this be a cautionary tale about hitting the keyboard before listening to calmer voices and doing some homework. You are far less likely to regret the words you didn't say than the words you did; no one is paying you for a scoop; and the reputation you save by refraining from hasty words may, in the end, be your own.

In Process ....

1/15/2026

Having just finished the proofs for my new book on Holy Bull, this seems as good a time as any to review the steps it takes to get a book to market through a traditional publisher. If any of you have ideas about writing a real book (and not AI slop), this is the gauntlet you'll run.

1) Get an idea that's worth developing. Honestly, this is the easy part. If anyone out there has the notion of "I've got a great idea! I'll give it to an author, s/he can write the book, and we'll split the proceeds," please don't bother; most authors have more ideas than they can ever write up, and most also know better than to commit themselves to a deal that leaves them doing 99.9 percent of the work for what will probably be very little return. (If you haven't read my August 17, 2023, post, "So You Want to Write a Book," I'd suggest doing so to get some grasp of the work involved and the likely returns.) Besides, if you don't feel passionate enough about your idea to put the work of writing in, why should someone else?

2) Research, research, research. If you are writing nonfiction, this is an absolute necessity. Remember, you're trying to sell to an audience with an interest in your topic, and that audience is going to include some people who aren't going to be fooled by blowing smoke. If you count on AI summaries to do your homework, you deserve what you get. Fiction writers also do more research than you'd think; it's part of creating believable fictional worlds in which suspension of disbelief can operate.

3) Create a manuscript and/or a book proposal. This is where the road forks between fiction and nonfiction writers. Generally, fiction publishers want to see a complete draft accompanying your cover letter and proposal. Nonfiction publishers vary more; some will be content with an outline and synopsis, while others will want to see sample chapters. Find out what the requirements are for the publishing house you are targeting and follow them religiously, especially if you have no prior history of working with that house.

4) Prepare to be hit with a lot of advertising for publishing opportunities once you start marketing your book proposal/manuscript. Most of these will be for self-publishing or vanity presses; some will be outright scams. If you do want to go the self-publishing route, do your due diligence about researching how best to go about it. (While my crystal ball may be no better than anyone else's, I think it not improbable that the current flood of AI-generated books hitting the market may actually lead to a resurgence of more traditional publishing in some form as readers look for books that have actually been written by humans and have passed some sort of quality control prior to going to market.)

4) You've been accepted and you've signed a contract! Congratulations! But now, the grunt-work really begins. If you haven't already come up with and submitted a complete manuscript (including any illustrations called for in the contract), you will have a deadline for doing so. If you have, your next step will be copy editing and revisions. The exact stages will depend on the house you're going through. At my current publisher, the University of Kentucky Press, two or three readers will go over a manuscript first, giving feedback and suggesting areas for improvement. After any revisions have been made, the next step is copy editing. That means a copy editor goes over your work line by line, looking for everything from punctuation errors to unclear writing, and you will need to review and respond to every suggested change (though you need not incorporate every change if you feel you have good reason for standing pat; it's your manuscript, after all). If any major changes need to be made that haven't already been taken care of, this is your last opportunity to make them.

5) Review of the proofs is the last major stage before publication. At this point, you will be looking at your manuscript pretty much as it is going to appear when printed. You should read it over carefully and make sure any typos or mistakes haven't managed to sneak through the earlier editing, but suggesting major revisions now is a good way to have your editor frothing at the mouth. Even if the revisions are accepted as necessary, they will result in the entire manuscript having to be set up anew for printing and may well delay the release date, which will not make the publisher happy.

6) If this is a nonfiction work, you will probably be asked to create an index for your book, making it easier for readers to locate specific information. (If this is going to be done by the publishing house, count yourself lucky; it isn't a difficult task, but it is a bit tedious.) The reason this comes so late in the publication process is that you'll need to be able to link your topics to page numbers as they will appear in the printed book, and those numbers won't be available until the proofs are created. Get the index done on time in order to keep from delaying publication.

7) Your book is born! You will probably receive the author copies specified by your contract two or three weeks before the actual release date, but at this point, the writing work is done ... until the next book.

A Word Spoken

12/25/2025

Over two thousand years ago, a baby boy was born to a poor peasant woman in a village called Bethlehem. At the time of his birth, it had been four hundred years since God had spoken through Malachi, the last of the post-exilic prophets. Now the divine silence had been broken, but in a completely new way. In the infant born in Bethlehem, the eternal God was manifested in a human body and joined to a sinless human nature. Jesus became the perfect expression of both everything God is and everything that a human being was meant to be. In the words of John, he was the Logos, the “Word made flesh.”

Some four hundred years earlier, Plato had expounded on the logos as the principle of order and reason that governed the universe, but his logos was essentially impersonal. In his use of the term, John added a new layer of meaning, joining the Word that had spoken the universe into existence with the Hebrew concept of the Creator as personal, active, holy, and self-existent. He then linked this personal Logos who had spoken in creation with a new creation that had taken place in the womb of a Jewish maiden. The mighty God who had walked with the first man and woman in Eden during the cool of the day at the first creation had now descended in a new way, to live among the human race as a man while remaining wholly God. In his descent is our ascent, that by the sacrifice of himself for our sins—yours and mine—he could raise us up into a new life. He also answered forever the questions of “What is God like?” and “Has God truly spoken?”; all that we need do to know those answers is to look at Jesus and listen to him. As a former Archbishop of Canterbury, Michael Ramsey, said, "In God there is no unChristlikeness at all."

The Word has become flesh and dwelt among us. Merry Christmas.

Once Again, Copy Editing

10/23/2025

Having gotten back from a pleasant vacation, I'm having to turn around and plow into one of my less-favorite chores---that of going through the copy editing process with my latest book-in-progress. This isn't my first rodeo with the process (see "Copy Editing" in this blog, October 5, 2023), so at least I'm on familiar turf.

As previously noted, it's easier to get through this if I remember that the copy editor and I are on the same team, with the mutual goal of producing the best book possible. That said, I still don't enjoy the corrections and wordsmithing. Some things just have to be endured as best one may to reach long-term goals.

On the brighter side, I've submitted another book proposal based on previous correspondence with the "Racing Royalty" editor. Wish me luck in getting my new project started!

Racing Royalty Is Off and Running!

9/4/2025

It's now 100 percent official---the "Racing Royalty" series from the University Press of Kentucky has a May 2026 launch date, which means my book on Holy Bull will at last be taking wing. I will still have to plow through copy editing and final proofs, but the goal is finally in sight. The really tough part will be deciding which horse to go with next before making my pitch to the editor for the next project.

I've finally finished plowing through the Daily Racing Form archives in quest of Chief Johnson, so it's back to Newspapers.com at this point. I should be able to target my searches much more effectively now, though, which will be a considerable blessing.

Juggling a couple of different book ideas (and trying to decide on a third!), putting more material together for the website here, the occasional article or book review, and taking care of everyday life---sometimes I don't know if I'm coming or going!