NEWS
Racing handicapping author Carter dies
Posted: Saturday, September 08, 2007 6:42 PM
Award-winning journalist Richard Carter, who wrote several significant books on racetrack handicapping under the pseudonym Tom Ainslie, died on September 1 in New York City. He was 89.
Carter won the 1951 George Polk Award as a reporter for the New York Compass for a series on racketeering and also wrote several books, including a “The Way It Is, ” a collaboration with professional baseball player Curt Flood, who helped pave the way for free agency in Major League Baseball.
Carter was an avid racing fan and turned his attention to handicapping in the 1960s when he discovered a literary void on selecting winners. He chose the pseudonym Ainslie after the whisky brand in jest as a jab at a perceived dishonorable reputation of Thoroughbred racing at the time, according to his son, John Carter, the New York Times reported.
Under the pseudonym Ainslie, he wrote “Ainslie’s Complete Guide to Thoroughbred Racing,” The Compleat Horseplayer,” Ainslie’s Encyclopedia of Thoroughbred Handicapping,” and “Ainslie’s Complete Guide to Harness Racing.” He also was a columnist for Daily Racing Form.
