Keeneland’s Ted Bassett: My Life, the autobiography of longtime Keeneland executive James E. “Ted” Bassett III, is going to a second printing. Having been released only seven weeks ago, the first printing of the book has almost entirely sold out.
“Ted’s book has been a tremendous critical and commercial success,” said Stephen M. Wrinn, director of the University Press of Kentucky, publisher of the autobiography. “It’s one of our best selling titles this year, and we believe it’s destined to have a long life in the marketplace.”
Written in collaboration with two-time Eclipse Award winner Bill Mooney, the Bassett autobiography details a career that, in the words of Daily Racing Form columnist Stan Bergstein, is “hardly duplicated by anyone in American racing.”
Paul Sanders, writing for Business Lexington, assessed the book as “autobiography at its finest – superbly written, entertaining and engaging.” Eugenie A. Graf, writing for the Lexington Herald-Leader, assessed it as compulsory reading “for those who relish tales of the famous; and for biography fans intrigued by the whys and hows people chose in living their lives.”
Seven hundred copies of the autobiography have already been sold through the Keeneland Shop, alone. “It’s the best selling book in our history,” said Jolene Dawkins, Keeneland’s director of retail operations.
“But you don’t have to be in the horse industry to love this book,” Dawkins said. “Ted Bassett’s experiences – with the United States Marine Corps in World War II, as director of the Kentucky State Police and, of course, during his 40-plus years at Keeneland – are so wide-ranging that they will appeal to anyone. And, as you read his autobiography, it’s like he is sitting right there, talking to you.”
“I’m pleasantly surprised that the book has been so well-received,” said Bassett. “And I am flattered by the steady stream of people who have come to me with copies, asking me to sign them.”
The Bassett autobiography will continue to be available through the Keeneland Gift Shop, on web sites such as Amazon, Tower Books and Barnes & Noble, at book stores throughout Central Kentucky and elsewhere, and directly from the University Press.