Stumbling into the Winners' Circle

Last weekend, the Forward sent reporter Max Gross — aka the Hapless Jewish Writer — to the Catskills to report on a story. He came back an accidental horse racing champion. This is his story.

Back in his college days, the Hapless Jewish Writer’s klutziness was the stuff of legends.

During his first week at Dartmouth — as he was getting to know his future classmates during a three-day mountain biking expedition in New Hampshire’s backwoods — the HJW’s bike spun out of control and he was discovered unconscious in a ditch by the side of the road, his brand new Mongoose battered and in pieces. A reputation of sorts was born.

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