General Discussion

no_hypocrisy

(46,096 posts) Sat May 6, 2017, 06:57 PM May 2017

When Donald Trump almost was involved in The Kentucky Derby

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/10/trump-files-horse-dj-trump

During the late 1980s, before his empire came crashing down, Donald Trump was on a buying spree. In 1988 alone, he purchased the Plaza Hotel in New York City (for $407 million), an airline (for $365 million), and Atlantic City's Taj Mahal (with costs that ballooned to $1 billion). Yet, for the man who had everything, there was still something missing: a racehorse.

In the spring of 1988, Steve Hyde, the chief executive of Trump's casino business, was approached by a racehorse owner named Robert LiButti—who also happened to be a mob associate—who was selling a horse with an impressive pedigree and "Triple Crown potential," according to former Trump employee John O'Donnell's book Trumped!. The asking price for the racehorse, named Alibi, was $500,000. Trump agreed to buy Alibi, on the condition that the horse be renamed DJ Trump.

But the process didn't go so smoothly. Shortly after making the deal, Trump—as is his style—began trying to renegotiate it.
Time suspiciously passed with no payment, and LiButti grew frustrated. Since Trump was convinced his name alone was worth $250,000, O'Donnell writes, Trump insisted on a discount on Alibi. LiButti reluctantly agreed, convinced by colleagues that a Trump investment in the racing industry would be good for business. It was then that the demands began. Trump insisted the horse be trained in vigorous workouts so that he could be delivered as soon as possible from Florida in racing shape.

But the workouts contributed to an unexpected outcome. The horse, wracked with a virus compounded by the training, became sick. According to Michael D'Antonio's book The Truth About Trump, a veterinarian had to amputate Alibi's front hooves to save him from death. The horse could no longer race, and when Trump found out, the businessman promptly backed out of the deal.

Hyde, Trump's executive, would eventually arrange a deal for his wife to buy the debilitated horse, according to O'Donnell, who writes, "that fall, he [Hyde] began to talk frequently of the day when he would leave Donald."