FOREWORD
John Perrotta, a bonafide Jersey boy with a wandering soul, was not necessarily destined to sink himself hip deep in the world of thoroughbred racing, consorting with an array of colorful characters with names like Peaches, Snake, Pockets and The Schnoz. But that’s where he ended up, and oh what stories he could tell.
Perrotta’s journey took him far and wide, to racetracks large and small, wheeling and dealing in search of fast horses worthy of strutting their stuff in world-class events like the Kentucky Derby, the Irish Derby and the Breeders’ Cup. Sometimes he caught them, sometimes they got away, but there was always a good story waiting at the end of the day.
Perrotta followed the money and he followed the dream, two forks in the same road that led him to the side of movers and shakers like Frank Stronach, the Austro-Canadian auto parts magnate who collected racetracks and racehorses as if they were trading cards. Like Robert Brennan, the empire builder in both thoroughbreds and finance who ended up cooling his jets behind bars. Like David Milch, the mercurial screenwriter and passionate consumer of all things racing, whether he was buying expensive horses at auction or boxing them in thousand dollar exactas.
Talk about good stories to tell.
Thankfully, Perrotta has told them in Racetracker, his heartfelt memoir dedicated in its title to the “racetrackers” he has known.
Racetracker, Life With Grifters and Gamblers Description:
Racetrackers are the keepers of the thoroughbred flame. They live for crisp mornings and steaming coffee at the rail. Their soundtrack is thunder rolling in the dirt under charging hooves and rabid fans with high stakes riding on every jockey’s whip. Their passion is the pursuit of champions.
