Overview
Jake "Strong-Arm" Heupel was larger than life—a flamboyant, fearless Thoroughbred jockey who rode at the top of his game through the glittering 1920s and the desperate, gritty years of the Depression. His journey from a tight-knit German immigrant community in northern Kentucky to the front ranks of American horse racing takes readers through the most glamorous and dangerous corners of the sport: the thundering stretch runs of the Kentucky Derby, the high-society spectacle of Saratoga, the sultry tracks of New Orleans, the tropical allure of Havana, Cuba, and the palm-shaded parade of Hialeah in Miami, Florida.
Without a horse-racing pedigree, Jake was an outsider in a world of insiders. He made a name for himself with sheer athletic talent, raw charisma, and an iron will, at a time when the sport was rife with fierce rivalries, the constant threat of race-fixing and bone-breaking injuries, and the upheaval of the 1929 crash. His career eventually carried him from Churchill Downs to California, where he worked with Bing Crosby as the crooner built his own racing stable among the Hollywood set. When Jake finally hung up his silks, he came home to a northern Kentucky town thriving on gambling dens and nightclubs in the gray zone of post-Prohibition law. The same charm that had won over racetrack crowds translated easily to entertaining club patrons and dispensing handicapping tips.
Jake Heupel’s story—and the family legacy he left behind—captures the spirit of the era as vividly as the man who lived it.
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