All books using the keywords: Paul Joseph Pluth

The only guide to Kentucky Derby betting tickets. The author is a researcher and historian who has provided the Hall of Fame with a half dozen corrections for its members. He has built a database to identify precious tote tickets, programs, and dated paper memorabilia connected to the stars the of the game. He has written his books with the intention of correcting and augmenting the knowledge of the past.

Older histories of America's first and greatest sport are peppered with a few untruths. But when it comes to the first California horses to run for gold, just about everything is upside-down. This book is the first to expose the half-truths about Black Swan, an Australian import universally lauded as the region's first Thoroughbred. Except that she was not. The author tackles her Down Under roots, her fraudulent playboy importer, her complete California resume, and the oddball team of a Spanish don and a Cherokee pioneer that was responsible for the Golden State's first sporting spectacle. Along the way, the author reveals which horses deserved the accolade of "first," while settl ...

Thad Stevens was not even considered to be a running horse for the first few years of his life. He was entered as a trotter for his first race, from which he was withdrawn beforehand. He served as a carriage horse for his owners for awhile, and then as training fodder for some running stablemates who were projected to be better talents. Amusingly, he began to beat them in practice. Then he was saddled for true competition to see if it was for real. In an up and down career, Thad eventually beat whatever rival California trainers sent out against him. Then, in 1873, the best of the nation were invited to San Francisco, for the state's first attempt at hosting a national sporting e ...