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  • The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told: A True Tale of Three Gamblers, the Kentucky Derby, and the Mexican Cartel by Mark Paul book cover
  • The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told: A True Tale of Three Gamblers, the Kentucky Derby, and the Mexican Cartel by Mark Paul book cover
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The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told: A True Tale of Three Gamblers, the Kentucky Derby, and the Mexican Cartel

by Mark Paul

A Derby wager with cross-border stakes

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AlbakiReads Editorial

A Derby wager with cross-border stakes

Set around Winning Colors’ run toward the 1988 Kentucky Derby, Mark Paul’s account brings together two strands of the racing world: a filly challenging expectations in a male-dominated sport and three gamblers convinced she can win. Their longshot bet, placed at a Tijuana racetrack with people described as suspected cartel members, turns the potential payout into a dangerous problem of how to collect it. The book’s scope reaches beyond the racetrack, following the trio into a border-crossing predicament involving suspected killers and Border Patrol arrests. Horseracing history and a high-risk gambling episode provide the frame for a true-life narrative about ambition, wager, and consequence.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • For readers interested in the history of horseracing and the 1988 Kentucky Derby.
  • For readers drawn to true-life accounts involving gambling and a U.S.–Mexico border-crossing predicament.
  • For readers interested in stories about women challenging barriers in professional sport.

Themes

Horseracing and gender barriersGambling and riskThe 1988 Kentucky DerbyCross-border danger and consequences

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

The Greatest Gambling Story Ever Told is an inspiring personal narrative about a filly who broke through the male-dominated world of horseracing and inspired crowds of men and women alike, along with a trio of gamblers who embark on an unforgettable adventure that's as epic as the historic victory of Winning Colors. It's Seabiscuit meets Narcos, and the best true-life gambling story ever told.

In the late 1980s, a spectacular 3-year-old female racehorse named Winning Colors was being groomed for success under her famous "Hollywood" trainer, D. Wayne Lukas, and the billionaire owner of the SAn Diego Chargers pro-football team, Eugene Klein. Meanwhile, three fun-loving gamblers, Miami Paul, Dino Mateo, and Big Bernie believed that Winning Colors could be the unlikely female winnder of the 1988 Kentucky Derby.

When the gamblers unknowingly place their longshot bet with members of a suspected drug cartel at a racetrack in Tijuana, Mexico, they must figure out how to claim their prize - without getting killed in the process. In a heart-pounding race of their own across the U.S.-Mexico border, the trio come face-to-face with suspected killers, are arrested by the Border Patrol, and fumble their way through the riskiest best of their lives.

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