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Calumet Farm
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majxmom
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 5:15 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sadly, a lot of killing-for-insurance in show jumping, Major figures in that sport have been convicted of that, including a former USET chef d'equip.
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Pan Zareta
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 05, 2009 6:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

partlycloudy wrote:
Alydar was insured for a lot of money. His stud fee was not bringing in the money, but his insurance would save the farm.


His stud fee had already brought in the $$. He'd been sold years into the future and if he'd lived another 15 years he'd have been covering ~2x the avg. (for 1990) number of mares/season - but the farm wouldn't see another dime. Which is why by 11/1990 Alydar was worth far more to Calumet dead than alive, even though the insurance payoff only delayed the inevitable.

Years after Alydar's death and the liquidation of Calumet federal bank fraud charges were finally brought against Lundy and his (literal) partner in crime, a loan officer (vp? pres.?) at First City Houston. During the punishment phase the prosecutor was allowed to introduce evidence outside the presence of the jury that Alydar was murdered for the insurance $$. But the judge ruled it wasn't strong enough to put before the jury.

JMO - the horse was deliberately injured, and Lundy knew it was going to happen, but it was at the instigation of one or more of his creditors.
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pembroke
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 12:01 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Pan Zareta....do you know this for a fact about Lundy or just speculating?
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Pan Zareta
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 3:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

pembroke wrote:
Pan Zareta....do you know this for a fact about Lundy or just speculating?


If you're referring to this sentence
Quote:
JMO - the horse was deliberately injured, and Lundy knew it was going to happen, but it was at the instigation of one or more of his creditors.
JMO = Just My Opinion, which is based primarily on evidence presented during the aforementioned trial.
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color
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 9:07 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Sorry I was not much online due to a horrible flu. I have saved the whole story and hope can copy and paste it here or find the link again. It was an investigation as far as I understood but ended unsatisfactory as the court did only sentence him for fraud not for the killing which seems obvious if you read all of that.
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color
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PostPosted: Mon Nov 09, 2009 9:15 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Here is the article

http://www.texasmonthly.com/2001-06-01/feature3.php

you have to log in to read it in full it is very long.

Here you may find the full article too as there is it linked at the bottom:
http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/alydar/


http://web.archive.org/web/20021213191905/www.texasmonthly.com/mag/issues/2001-06-01/feature4.php
several pages
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bdw0617
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 10:27 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

what was calumet spending all their money on?
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majxmom
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PostPosted: Wed Nov 11, 2009 10:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

They were using the farm assets like an ATM, buying jets and living like EXTREMELY wealthy people. The Markeys did have good money behind them, but they knew how to preserve capital. The children, however, married people who enjoyed their newly found wealth. Lundy was a farm employee who married the Markey's daughter, and he was then promoted to farm manager when he had no such skills. But the pyramid collapsed when they had already sold out breeding rights for many years in advance, or committed cash from breeding fees for servicing outstanding loans.

I had a friend who was a successful businessman. His daughter married one of his employees, who proceeded to rob a jewelry store with an acquaintance who was a multiple murderer. He was sentenced to 20 years in jail because the district attorney's daughter was a customer in the store when it was robbed. He was arrested the same day my friend's daughter found out she was pregnant. My friend always said that the biggest mistake he ever made was letting his daughter mix with the help. I bet the Markeys are up in heaven saying the same thing.

BTW, when last seen, the Markey's daughter, Mrs. Lundy, was waiting tables. Imagine going from being the princess of Calumet to being a waitress. At least she opted for honest work; good for her for being resilient. Lundy was like a bomb that went off in everyone's life. The description in Wild Ride of the day that all the horses were led down the lane to the Keeneland Sales Pavilion is really sad. Imagine working on the glorious farm all your life and seeing that happen.
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Pan Zareta
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PostPosted: Thu Nov 12, 2009 12:45 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

maxjmom wrote:
Lundy was a farm employee who married the Markey's daughter, and he was then promoted to farm manager when he had no such skills.


Lundy was married to Cindy Wright, granddaughter of Lucille Markey, and daughter of Warren Wright Jr. who was Lucille's only child by her 1st husband (whose father had established Calumet). I don't believe he (Lundy) was welcome at the farm, much less worked there, while Lucille Markey was alive. But he did have a small farm of his own at the time the Warren Wright Jr. heirs (Jr. died before his mother) turned over management of Calumet to him.
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bdw0617
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PostPosted: Mon Oct 03, 2011 6:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

this thread, peaked my interest in the calumet story and i bought the book wild ride, and i just finished it about 1 hour ago (finally lol).


Is that really how it all went down? just how accurate is that?


what i am having some trouble getting my head around is just how out of the loop all the family members were once Lucille Markey died.


Where is JT Lundy now?
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Pan Zareta
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PostPosted: Tue Oct 04, 2011 11:16 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

bdw0617 wrote:

Is that really how it all went down? just how accurate is that?


As far as I know the book's accuracy has never been disputed. But it's incomplete. Wild Ride was published before the investigation into the failure of First City Bank, Texas, specifically the investigation into loans FC-TX made to Calumet that were never repaid. Part of the insurance payoff on Alydar was used to make a late and partial payment on one of those loans, which is how the Justice Dept. ended up looking into the circumstances of the horse's death. As a result of that investigation Calumet nightwatchman Alton Stone was convicted in 1998 of perjury for lying about why he was working the night the horse was injured instead of the man that was scheduled to be on duty. During the penalty phase of Lundy's trial for bank fraud the prosecutor was allowed to present evidence to the judge that the horse had been deliberately murdered for the insurance $$, but the judge wouldn't allow it to be presented to the jury.

Quote:
what i am having some trouble getting my head around is just how out of the loop all the family members were once Lucille Markey died.


They weren't exactly in the loop even before she died. What's really difficult to understand is how each and every one of them could put their entire fortune, not just Calumet, at one man's (Lundy's) complete disposal without any sort of oversight. That truly boggles the mind.

Quote:
Where is JT Lundy now?


Probably not far enough away. He did something like 2 years(?) in prison after being convicted on four counts of fraud in the FC-TX case. Was seen at a Keeneland sale shortly after his release. In 2008 a judgment for $1.5M was entered against one of his sons for selling bogus stallion shares to an old family friend. Sometimes the apple doesn't fall far from the tree...
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