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Thompson chronicles horse racing’s dark side

Earlier this year, Wright Thompson was standing at Secretariat’s grave at Claiborne Farm in Kentucky when he called up “Pure Heart,” a wonderful 1990 Sports Illustrated story where William Nack, who died in 2018, wrote about his “unforgettably exhilarating ride” covering the 1973 Triple Crown journey and the life of the famed racehorse.

 

Standing with Pineapple Street Studios producers Jess Hackel and Courtney Harrell, Thompson read the beginning of the story. “It was almost as a prayer to Bill to say, hey, you’re here with us,” Thompson said.

Thompson was just about to start his own ride, creating a three-part podcast series with ESPN called “Bloodlines,” about the death of 49 thoroughbred horses in Santa Anita.

Thompson cited another story from Nack — this one in 2008 for ESPN — as being the creative spark for doing his podcast, which was released this month.

Thompson: “It started with a story Bill wrote for ESPN about Ellen Parker. It was after Eight Belles died in the Kentucky Derby. It was about how horses were dangerously inbred, especially to a horse called Raise a Native. That always stuck in my head. I remember, I was at Bill’s funeral in Washington. We toasted him, and I thought about it then. 

“When these horses started dying at Santa Anita, the Venn diagram of Bill’s story and that news story in Santa Anita kept coming back to me. It was like he’d rung a bell in my head that I couldn’t unhear.” — J.O.


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