We are so excited!

“Secretariat’s Meadow – The Land, The Family, The Legend”  has been named as one of three finalists in the $10,000 Dr. Tony Ryan Book Award.  The competition, which recognizes the best book related to the Thoroughbred industry, is sponsored by Thoroughbred Times and Castleton Lyons, a famed Thoroughbred farm in Lexington, Kentucky founded by the late Dr. Ryan.  It is said to be one of the richest literary awards in the world.

The winner will be announced during an invitation-only reception at Castleton Lyons in Lexington on the evening of April 13.  During the day, Kate and I will be signing books and having lunch at Keeneland Racetrack with the other nominated authors.

Here is what the award program had to say about “Secretariat’s Meadow:”

“Kate Chenery Tweedy, daughter of racing’s first lady, Penny Chenery, has proven herself a writer of no small talent. With co-author Leeanne Ladin, she has produced in Secretariat’s Meadow a sweeping, lush account of several generations of Chenerys and of their famed Virginia acreage known as “The Meadow.” In tracing family lore back some 200 years, she deftly navigates tragedies and triumphs, including the point in 1972 when The Meadow was in danger of being sold out of the family. While Secretariat’s Meadow is a powerfully good cover-to-cover read, this audience will be most interested in Tweedy’s bird’s-eye take on the great red champion himself, of living alongside and in the moment of that “image of equine perfection etched across the sky.” Well written, crafted, and illustrated, this is more than your standard coffee-table book. The movie was good. This is even better.” 

“Secretariat’s Meadow,” a 160-page pictorial history, was published in September 2010 by Dementi Milestone Publishing of Manakin-Sabot, VA. It has sold out twice and is now in its third printing. The book has ranked in the top five bestselling horse racing books on Amazon and Barnes and Noble since its release. 

For more information on the book award, see http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/national-news/2011/03/29/book-award-finalists-11.aspx.

 We hope April 13 will be our lucky day! 

Leeanne Ladin

April 3, 2011

copyright  2011