Saratoga Stories: Gangsters, Gamblers, and Racing Legends
Jon Bartels

Pub Date: August 2007. Long before there was a Las Vegas, there was a Saratoga. In a time before radio and television, Americans in the Gilded Age viewed the high-class racing and resorts at Saratoga Springs, N.Y., as the culmination of their hopes and dreams. Then as now, captains of industry and the very wealthy mingled with middle-class visitors for a summer sojourn punctuated by social events, parties, business, and the races, where major stakes days drew sell-out crowds.

In Saratoga Stories, Jon Bartels regales readers with tales of the colorful characters such as John Morrissey and Gottfried Walbaum, who helped make Saratoga Racecourse the pre-eminent track in America. Right along side the human characters that populated the racetrack were the racing stars such as Springbok and Preakness, Duke of Magenta and Hindoo, Sysonby, and the great Man o' War.

About the Author:

Jon Bartels grew up in Manitowoc, Wisc., and graduated from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, with degrees in history and journalism. He has always admired the graceful beauty and speed of horses and horse racing, and that interest led him to join the University of Wisconsin Hoofers Riding Club. Bartels lives in Verona, Wisc., and works as a free-lance writer and editor and is a member of the Wisconsin Screenwriters Forum. His writing has appeared in several newspapers and magazines, and he has placed in the top ten of the Wisconsin Screenwriters Forum national screenwriting contest and has won the University of Wisconsin Writers Institute's Poem or Page Contest. Saratoga Stories is his first book.

Hardcover
6 x 9
224 pages
Product #B11-1118
b&w photos throughout
List Price: $24.95
ISBN: 978-1-58150-158-2