Notes from the Authors

Photo: Authors Michael Bergeron (left) and John Martin (right) standing at Timely Writer's grave located in Nikki Bacharach Memorial Garden at Old Friends.

I first met Frannie & Mary Martin in the spring of 1995. In January, I had started dating their youngest daughter, Janice - and my future wife. I was in the middle of attending law school during the evenings in Boston while working two jobs six days a week and with little money. I had already met Janice’s older brother, John, and sister, Maryellen, so the last hurdle was to meet the parents. Frannie and Mary were returning home to the Boston area after riding out the winter in Fort Lauderdale. As their condo in Florida was less than thirty minutes from Gulfstream Race Track, the weather and horse races suited the couple just fine.

I had already visited the Martin home once while they were in Florida, so for a kid raised in the woods of Connecticut, the 4,000 square foot home with a pool on a one-acre lot 20 minutes from Boston was a place a bit intimidating to “meet the parents” for the first time. The house included a front door knocker in the shape of a horseshoe on the front door, an ornamental jockey statute on the front lawn, and a beautiful painting of  some thoroughbred that raced in the early 1980s. Other than these items, it was not a home decorated with trophies, photographs of winner’s circles, or horse racing memorabilia covering the walls.

The couple I would come to call my in-laws was gracious, kind, funny, and interesting to speak with during our first get-together. Though Peter Martin passed before I married into the family, Frannie was always so complimentary and proud of his older brother when speaking about him. I would finish law school and become a practicing lawyer in 1996. Over the next five years, Janice and I would get married and start raising a family – three daughters in four years beginning in December of 2000 – one of which was given the middle name of “Frances” in honor of her grandfather. Frannie and Mary loved being grandparents, with six in total between the three siblings, and often spent their weekends entertaining their children and grandchildren at the pool during the summer.

It had been just over a dozen years since Timely Writer had finished his last race when I met Frannie, and whether he liked it or not, Mary was ensuring Frannie was retiring and winding down ownership of his remaining horses. The couple were not braggadocio people, and never once did I hear either one of them tell the whole story about their lives with a colt by the name of Timely Writer, the notoriety they had achieved with him, or

their journey that brought them to the steps of immortality in horse racing. For sure, they would laugh and tell stories of the fun times they had at the horse tracks over forty years, but there were never significant details about the lives they led in the early 1980s.

Over the years, I have taken note of the many people who stopped and talked with Frannie or Mary about the glory days of Timely Writer. People approaching the couple thanked them for the success and memories Timely Writer had brought to their lives. Friends and acquaintances of Janice and her siblings would talk to me about the incredible story of the Martin family, their horse and what it meant to everyone. Many of these people would speak about how their story needed to be a book, a movie, or both. As Janice and I spent twenty years raising kids while working full-time, myself as a trial attorney, I never gave the story much consideration.

Frannie passed from cancer in 2009 after fighting it for more than 25 years. Mary, independent to the end, would outlive Frannie by over a decade, passing away in November 2021 at 93. Though neither one of the two ever put pen to paper about their experiences, a treasure trove of memorabilia was located in Mary’s basement upon her passing. Mary left multiple scrapbooks of Timely Writer, which contained every race program, race result, countless newspaper articles, and photographs of winner’s circles. Additional storage boxes contained original magazines, trophies from elite horse races, and cassette tapes of every race, including news interviews of the Timely Writer’s cast of characters.

Opening the boxes and albums brought history to life. As the pages turned, the story was intoxicating - and unbelievable if it were not true. People approaching my in-laws over the years were correct – the tale of Timely Writer and the Martins needed to be told. The story was about more than just two brothers running a meat distribution center while grinding it out on the inferior horse racing tracks for over twenty-five years as a second job. It was more than just two guys catching lightning in a bottle with the purchase of Timely Writer in 1980 and finding themselves with the overwhelming favorite to win the Kentucky Derby in 1982 and to sweep the remainder of the two Triple Crown races. Their story is about all of this and more. Their story is about life – through the good times and bad – and how a family and their horse showed a country how to handle life’s events gracefully and humbly.

Upon Mary’s passing, I had been grinding it out as a trial attorney for 25 years. I had been organizing, writing, and telling stories to countless courts and juries throughout Massachusetts for a generation. Under the guidance of my brother-in-law John, who lived through the events as a 19 and 20-year-old, writing this book seemed a natural fit for one of the few skillsets I possessed. John and I agreed to partner up to tell the story of his parents, his uncle, and Timely Writer. As we put the story together for two and one-half years, it was unlike any other I had encountered. I suspected the story would be good when we began the project – never envisioning the depths of its greatness and meaning. As we put together chapter after chapter, I found myself riding the emotional roller coaster my in-laws had gone through – fascinated at times, laughing at times, and shedding tears of joy and sorrow along the way.

John and I hope you share the same experiences as you saddle up for the untold story of the legendary Timely Writer, the Martin family, and The Ride of Their Lives.