Josh Pons

Josh Pons (Col ’76 CM) has published his third book, Letters from Country Life: Adolphe Pons, Man o’ War, and the Founding of Maryland’s Oldest Thoroughbred Farm, a recounting of his grandfather’s role as personal secretary to New York financier August Belmont II, breeder of the greatest racehorse of the 20th-century, Man o’ War.

The narrative follows Pons’ grandfather from New York to Maryland in 1933 to establish Country Life Farm, which at nine decades old is the oldest thoroughbred farm in Maryland.

In writing the book, Pons took to heart the words of former professor John Coleman, a member of the UVA Department of English faculty from 1946 to 1981, who taught students that “unless something is written down, there is no proof that it existed.”

Pons’ book is available in bookstores, at rowmanlittlefield.com, or by contacting him at josh@countrylifefarm.com.