The Jockey Club's Wild Ride

After he was fired from the Jockey Club, Eddie Anton says, he spent several months trying to see if the relationship he had built with the Argentine time-share firm could be parlayed into another development somewhere else; he says he even went to Argentina to meet with Apartour. While on this mission, he failed to appear for his April 14 sentencing hearing; his bail was revoked and a warrant issued for his arrest. U.S. Marshals picked him up in Texas in July, and he was transferred to Miami's Federal Detention Center the same month to await sentencing -- and to face an additional charge for failure to appear.

Anton remains bitter that much of the story of the mortgage-fraud lawsuit brought against him and Hernandez will come down to George's word against his. "Who are you going to believe? This young fucking child-looking kid, or this fucking con artist?" he asks ruefully.

Meanwhile, though members can dock their yachts at the marina or play a couple of sets on the tennis courts, they cannot enjoy a martini or a filet mignon.

And the residents of the the Jockey Club -- especially the older inhabitants of Jockey I who remember the bygone glory days -- don't share the Hermans' dogged optimism. "I don't think anybody will buy it," sighs Jack Waxenberg. "They have nothing to sell. They're selling pie in the sky.