Sid Fernando writes that long before the New York Times article on ‘mangled horses’ and drugs in horse racing, the topic was covered author Ernest Hemingway, who wrote a story in France in 1922 based on the real-life story of Ksar. Hemmingway changed the horse’s name to Kzar.

In his story, Kzar lost a race to Kircubbin due to the excellent race riding of Kzar’s jockey who managed to keep the better horse from winning. Not only does the story cover the idea of fixing races, it mentions drugs used in racing. The story concludes with a the death of a jockey and a horse as the narrator’s father is killed in a steeplechase when his horse goes down.

While some of the story is fictionalized and names are changed, Fernando writes that many aspects are an accurate account of the events in Ksar’s career and in racing in general, showing that what the New York Times article brought to light is not something new.