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- BUSINESS, Page 51Business NotesAUCTIONSCalumet Finds A White Knight
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- In baseball, it's the New York Yankees. In basketball, the
- Boston Celtics. In Thoroughbred racing, it's Calumet Farm. Since
- 1931 the Lexington, Ky., breeding farm and racing stable has
- produced two Triple Crown horses, nine Kentucky Derby champions
- and six Horse of the Year Eclipse Award winners.
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- But 10 years of mismanagement buried the farm under $127
- million of debt, and owner Bertha Wright, who inherited Calumet
- in 1982, filed for bankruptcy protection in July. Last week all
- 850 rolling acres of Kentucky bluegrass, 15 red-and-white barns,
- a 14-room mansion and assorted trophies and memorabilia went on
- the auction block. Polish-born horseman and aviation magnate
- Henryk de Kwiatkowski, 64, got the 770-acre main parcel with a
- $17 million bid. De Kwiatkowski, who also paid $210,000 for the
- Calumet name, announced that he would keep the farm's staff and
- operate it as before. "When I saw this place being dismantled,
- it was an offense to me," he told more than 3,000 cheering
- spectators. "Not a whisker of this farm will be changed."
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