"Wait a minute. Red Smith is in F. Lee's NYT obituary?"
"You betcha. When you get an obit written by the inestimable Robert McFadden, you get a reunion of names.
"How is that possible considering how long ago Red Smith passed away. Where did their paths cross?"
"Whether their paths physically crossed or not, I do not know, but F. Lee represented a thoroughbred veterinarian Dr. Mark Gerard in 1977 over the case of his working a ringer into a race at Belmont and walking away (temporarily at least) with a betting score of $80,400 when he substituted a much faster horse for a decidedly slower horse.
"The veterinarian substituted a horse named Cinzano as Lebon, a thoroughbred so slow that Red Smith described him as being unable to 'beat a fat man from Gimbels to Macy's.'"
"That is slow. Those stores were only a block apart years ago."
"I know. The race was for cheap horses, and Lebon's past performances looked so bad that there was no confidence in his winning as measured by the betting public. He went off at 57-1. There are horses who get entered that show absolutely no chance based on their past performances of being able to finish in front of anyone in a race.
"It was reported Dr. Mark Gerard constructed a bet of $1,800; $1,200 to win and $600 to show, that netted him $80,440 at the window after the race was declared official. In racing parlance, that's known as a 'score.' Putting one over.
"But of course, Lebon is not Lebon, he's Cinzano, a decidedly faster horse that fooled the race identifiers who are supposed to prevent ringers from getting into the paddock. It was like substituting Usain Bolt for a high school runner in a track meet.
"Now Red Smith didn't know Cinzano was running as Lebon, but when writing of the story once the lid was blown off, he accurately described Lebon as a horse who couldn't beat a fat man running a block between two famous stores in NYC—hot day or not—uphill or down. Not happening."
"So, F. Lee got the vet off?"
"Not quite. But his sentence was not very onerous, and he was back in the barn within a few months, but not as a vet for thoroughbreds at New York tracks.
"Red Smith wrote of Cinzano in a 'Sports of the Times' column that appeared on Sunday April 20, 1980 while Dr. Gerard was still free on the appeal of his one year sentence, a misdemeanor for "fraudulent practices in a contest of speed" coupled with a paltry $1,000 fine. There is no mention that he had to repay the mutuel winnings.
"But he did hire F. Lee Bailey, who for certain didn't come cheap. Dr. Gerard served only a few months in a Nassau County jail for his one-year sentence. The horse Cinzano fell into a bit of a no-man's land, lacking an identity of his own, since the horse Lebon was killed at Dr. Gerard's farm in Muttontown, with Cinzano then being portrayed as the registered Lebon, despite an age and coloring difference, not to mention a genital difference in gelded vs. not gelded. There was never a horse registered as Cinzano.
"Thus, Cinzano could never race as himself. He competed in point-to-point jump races with no betting and no purse. He was a horse who couldn't use his own name.
"Red Smith, cleverly points out at the close of his column that Dr. Mark Gerard got off easier than the horse. Dr. Gerard had F. Lee Bailey. Cinzano didn't."
http://www.onofframp.blogspot.com
Again, a brilliant piece John!!
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