"Letters from County Life is an essential read for anyone who enjoys Thoroughbred racing, farm life, horses, and fascinating American history."
– Brien Bouyea
Hall of Fame and Communications Director, National Museum of Racing and Hall of
Fame and author of Bare Knuckles and Saratoga Racing: The Remarkable Life of John
Morrissey and The Travers: 150 Years of Saratoga’s Greatest Race
LETTERS FROM COUNTRY LIFE
Adolphe Pons, Man o' War, and the Founding of Maryland's Oldest Thoroughbred Farm
In 2016, Josh Pons discovered thousands of letters from his grandfather Adolphe Pons' life in the Thoroughbred horse business. The son of a French cook in the Gilded Age mansions of banker August Belmont II, Pons immigrated to New York City at the age of five in 1888. In time, he became Belmont’s personal secretary and played a major role in Belmont’s breeding and sale of the most famous horse in history: Man o’ War. During the Great Depression, Adolphe left New York and bought a hundred-acre horse farm in Maryland, naming it Country Life.
In expanded form, Josh Pons draws upon the popular column he wrote for three years for BloodHorse magazine, inviting readers along as he unearths long-lost voices of Gilded Age tycoons, their voices speaking out of century-old letters, telegrams, their images in never-before-seen photos. An epic story set against the backdrop of World War I, the Great Depression, and World War II. The result is a fascinating chronicle and fresh look at the Golden Age of Horse Racing and how the past influences our present.
—Dan Rodricks, Baltimore Sun columnist
“I’ve had the good fortune to hear Pons’s stories, with frequent references to his grandfather, Adolphe. I never met that genial horseman, but now I feel I have, thanks to his grandson’s loving curation of his letters.”
Josh Pons
Josh Pons won two Eclipse Awards for his journalism in BloodHorse, presented for best stories of the year in the sport of Thoroughbred racing. He is the author of three books published by Eclipse Press: Country Life Diary: Three Years in the Life of a Maryland Horse Farm, which sold 10,000 copies; Merryland: Two Years in the Life of a Thoroughbred Training Farm (available now in its second printing) and the just-released Letters from Country Life: Adolphe Pons, Man o' War, and the Founding of Maryland's Oldest Thoroughbred Farm.
Pons joined BloodHorse upon graduation from the University of Virginia, where he majored in English. After three years as a journalist, he entered the University of Kentucky Law School, graduating in 1982, then he returned to his family’s Country Life Farm. Professionally, he is president of the Maryland Horse Library and Education Center and Vice President of the Maryland Horse Breeders Association. He along with his brother Mike operate Country Life Farm, a full-service Thoroughbred farm specializing in breeding and racing partnerships. He and his wife, Ellen, live in Fallston, Maryland, on Country Life, together with an extended Pons family of all ages.
