Veterinarians Reject Alydar Death Rumors

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Two veterinarians who attended to Alydar in his final hours have disputed renewed insinuations that the horse's injury was not accidental.

An article in the Nov. 16 Sports Illustrated is the most recent to raise questions that the injury, which resulted in Alydar's death, was caused deliberately so Calumet Farm could collect $36.5 million in insurance in an effort to salvage its desperate financial situation.

Dr. William Baker and Dr. Larry Bramlage, who performed surgery on Alydar in November 1990 after the horse was found in his stall with a broken leg, said those insinuations are ridiculous.

"Everything they're saying is wrong," Baker said. "Economically and medically, it doesn't make sense," Bramlage said. Others in the horse industry said that Alydar was more valuable alive than dead. The stallion was bred to as many as 100 mares a year for fees estimated at $12 million annually.

"People can't believe it. They say it's a ridiculous rumor," said Nancy Yearsley, a bloodstock and insurance agent.

Nina Hahn, an agent for Lloyds of London, also said she could not believe the Alydar rumors.

"I feel there was nothing to be gained by killing the horse," she said. "The farm couldn't be saved by killing the horse."

Calumet's management, led by J.T. Lundy, had built a mountain of debt based on Alydar's prodigious earnings. Alydar's death caused Calumet's house of debt to collapse. Lundy resigned as president in April 1991; by July, Calumet was in bankruptcy court, claiming debts of almost $130 million.

Calumet Farm said Alydar broke his hind leg when he kicked the door of his stall. He underwent surgery, but two days later he was destroyed after he fell when he was lowered from a sling and rebroke the leg.

Tom Dixon, the insurance adjuster who conducted an investigation and recommended that Lloyds of London pay the $36.5 million claim on the horse, also doubts the Alydar rumors.

"I've tried to be honest and straightforward with everybody," Dixon said. "If someone has any information, we'd like to know about it.

"I think if there were something, somebody would have told us." Neither Lundy nor his attorney, J. Montjoy Trimble, could be reached for comment.

According to the Sports Illustrated article, a few veterinarians expressed doubts in the months after Alydar's death that he could have shattered his hind leg by kicking the stall door. The veterinarians were not identified.

But Baker said he has seen similar injuries that also were caused by kicking a wall.

"I'd stand on any witness stand in the country and say it can happen," Baker said.

"I had one admitted December 24, 1991, with the same identical fracture, injured in the same way," Baker said. That horse had to be destroyed several months later.