Shocker: Larry King's Horsey Tale Is Full Of Holes

Yesterday, excerpting from his memoirs, Larry King spun a sweet little tale of hitting it big at the racetrack, thanks to a plucky horse named Lady Forli. Are you sitting down? It's all a lie!

In his forthcoming My Remarkable Journey, ol' Larry writes of a day spent at Calder back in 1971, when he was a spry 156 years old. Down at the heels and with $42 to his name, Larry bet his last dollar on a 70-1 filly, Lady Forli, wheeling her at the top of a trifecta that, miraculously, came through.

There was no question about it. The 11 won by five lengths. The 1 was three lengths ahead of the 9. I had every winning ticket. I had it to win. I had the exacta. I had the trifecta. I collected nearly eight thousand dollars. Eight thousand dollars!

Alas, it seems Larry has embroidered his history just a touch. According to Equibase, a Lady Forli was foaled in 1972, a chestnut. She ran three times in 1975 and never finished in the money. Larry might've won $8,000 off a horse in 1971, but it certainly wasn't off Lady Forli.

Now, the man has obviously lived a long, fascinating life, full of adventure and Teri Garr interviews, so maybe we should all give him the benefit of the doubt here. Maybe he just misremembers. Or maybe he really is fucking insane.

Excerpt: Betting my last dollar on a horse [CNN]

Send an email to Tommy Craggs, the author of this post, at craggs@deadspin.com.

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