Richard Carter, author and reporter, dies

NEW CITY, N.Y., Sept. 8 (UPI) -- Richard Carter, a New York newspaperman and author who became best-known for the horse racing books he wrote as Tom Ainslie, has died at age 89.

His son told The New York Times Carter died last Saturday at his home in New City, N.Y.

Carter was a reporter for the New York Compass when he won a George Polk Award in 1951 for an investigative series on organized crime on the waterfront.

He wrote two books on medicine -- “Breakthrough,” a biography of Jonas Salk, developer of the polio vaccine, and “The Doctor Business” about the American Medical Association. He also co-authored books with William Keating, a former Manhattan assistant district attorney, and with baseball great Curt Flood.

Carter, a longtime racing buff, began writing the Tom Ainslie books in the 1960s, taking the name Ainslie from a brand of whisky. His son told the Times he decided to use a pen name because many people thought “horse racing was a step above organized crime.”

In the preface to the third edition of “Ainslie’s Complete Guide to Horse Racing,” Carter said when he looked for books on racing as a young fan he discovered none existed.