Broken

By: Fred M. Kray

Narrated by: Stephan Watson

One fateful winter night, a famous racehorse mysteriously broke his leg while alone in his stall. An investigation ensued, but the real story has never been told—until now.

It was a cool, quiet evening at Calumet Farm, where the most valuable racehorses—including the prolific stallion Alydar—had settled into their stalls for the evening. Alton Stone, filling in for the regular night watchman, completed his rounds at the barn. Although nothing seemed out of the ordinary, an inexplicable hunch led Stone to check on Alydar. What he found—a grievously injured horse with no discernable cause—jump-started one of the biggest mysteries to ever hit the horse racing world.

One part true-crime investigation, one part evocative history of the adrenaline-filled days of horse racing's golden age, Broken follows Alydar's rise to fame and then dives into the sordid details of the crime and trial that came to define his legacy. Told with the taut pacing of a legal thriller, Broken investigates Alydar's death, the $41.5 million insurance payout, and the stain it left on the sport of horse racing.

Throughout, animal law attorney and author Fred M. Kray weaves together shocking testimony and key evidence from the trials, featuring dramatic photos taken the night of the incident. Drawing on interviews conducted with more than twenty-five key witnesses, Kray reveals insider-only details and, in order to discover the truth about the death of this magnificent horse, embarks on a major investigation—one that leads to an unexpected and startling conclusion

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2023 Fred M. Kray (P)2023 Fred M. Kray

Not great

I understand that the author is an attorney, but I daresay the audience for this book is made up of far more horse enthusiasts than fellow attorneys. His presentation, over and over again, of basic tenets of the stories made for a very dull telling of a most compelling story. The book Wild Ride is far superior. I have no doubt that the worthless piece of scum, JT Lundy, was involved in the murder of this magnificent horse - he murdered Alydar just the way he destroyed Calumet Farm. It's a shame that he was never held accountable for this, and now that he is dead, never will be - on this side of the divide, anyway. It is good to see that 30+ years after this monstrous crime, Calumet is rising from the ashes under a series of new owners. I love driving past the farm and seeing it well cared for once again, but it's sad knowing that even the 'Devil Red & Blue' colors of the farm were lost because of Lundy. Alydar was greatness and he deserved better. Burn in hell JT Lundy.

Passion of writer for subject

Details on racing and of subject made the nonfiction story interesting and informative for listeners.

Farm organization

Book is way too long. Too much unnecessary dialog. Could've easily been cut to 4 hours and still gotten in all the pertinent information. Author, in my opinion, wandered away from, or tried to elaborate too much, the situation at hand.

Enlightening story of Alydar

Excellent book. As a racing fan this was bittersweet but also the reality of many involved then and still, continuing today as it seems more so who are motivated by selfish greed and don’t appreciate the Racing Legacy or the Horse especially. I can see the sport has suffered & it gets difficult to follow.

the truth

I liked the whole thing,very well done. it's a very sad story. sadly it's true.

Completely Captivating

This is a captivating and masterful book. The investigation was riveting. The "closing argument" was excellent and provides a compelling analysis. I loved Alydar and will always be heartbroken by what happened to him. The author does justice to his memory and legacy.

The narrator of the audio book is very good.

A Very Tedious Listen

There’s a fine line between exhaustive and exhausting. This was the latter.

Though the subject matter interested and intrigued me, the story was told in a tedious manner, especially the hours of transcript-like courtroom proceedings. Some will surely appreciate that level of detail and enjoy the book for that reason, but for me (just personal preference), it probably could have been told in 25% fewer repetitive words.

I don’t often nit-pick the performances of audiobook readers, but I found Stephan Watson’s character accents to be comedic caricatures that were more distracting than enhancing.

Wanted to love this book, but meh.