Tuesday, January 26, 2010

All In A Name


When I first read yesterday that Robert Mosbacher had passed away I was a bit confused. The obituary said his father was Emil Mosbacher. I remember the name Emil Mosbacher as someone who was once head of the New York Racing Association (NYRA), the organization that runs thoroughbred racing in New York state at Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga tracks.

The time frame didn't fit. Well, it turned out that Robert's older brother, Emil 'Bus" Mosbacher, Jr. was the NYRA head. The older brother passed away several years ago. The father was of course Emil Mosbacher, Sr.

The Mosbacher name goes back a long way in yacht racing circles. So there was some heavy skepticism when it was announced that Emil would head NYRA. Afterall, a "boat race" in horse racing is a derogatory term for a race basically run in single file so that the order of finish remains preserved as the same order that started. A fixed race. A standardbred, trotting or pacing race is however more likely to have the boat racing "look." No matter. When a yacht guy is named to head the ponies, it's basically, "who will they think of next?"

Then there's the missing jewels. I seem to remember that one of the Mosbacher wives claimed to have lost her jewelry when her jewelry case (full) entered an airport x-ray machine but came out empty. Same case? Lots of good questions ensued.

Then there was the story that one of Robert's wives, Georgette, claimed to have been held up at gunpoint in front of her hotel room door in 1990 at the Baribizon and relieved of at least $40,000 of jewelry she had on her.

That particular story was found digitally in the archives, with no report of recovery, or apprehension that followed.

All of which means that there are many ways to lose things without ever betting on a "boat race."

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