After 27 years, the Indian Charlie newsletter is out of business

It was always irreverent, often controversial and fiercely independent. As of this week, Indian Charlie is no more.

The sardonic newsletter that Ed Musselman distributed free of charge for nearly 27 years, first on racetrack backstretches in Kentucky and more recently through digital media, was posted for the last time Monday, according to its lead story. (See the final issue here.)

“Not being able to interact directly with horsemen and women at both racetracks and at horse sales due to the coronavirus took away any advantage we had to report on issues and stories not otherwise covered in mainstream Thoroughbred racing publications,” the story said.

Without getting into specifics, the note to readers mentioned “some mistakes we made last year that also entered into this decision,” that Indian Charlie “was a bit of a rerun in 2020” and “that, in some ways, the game has passed us by.”

Musselman turned down a request from HRN for an interview Monday.

In its familiar legal-sized format, but without the usual back page full of advertisements, Monday’s edition was the first in two months, although a Thanksgiving-to-New Year’s Day break has been the norm for years.

With its slogan “we never let the truth get in the way of a good story,” Indian Charlie was equal parts TMZ and The Onion. Its biting, anti-establishment attitude made it popular with many backside denizens. But it also was polarizing.

Its staunchest supporters praised its no-boundaries, take-no-prisoners style, while its loudest critics said Indian Charlie was too often racist and sexist. Churchill Downs, Keeneland and racetracks run by the New York Racing Association and The Stronach Group took turns banning it when their executives believed its content was too politically incorrect.

A flashpoint came in 2014, when Louisville Metro police were called to investigate the report of a fistfight at Churchill Downs between Musselman and one of the newsletter’s frequent targets, trainer Dale Romans. Yes, it was over something that “Muggins” wrote.

Indian Charlie went down swinging Monday, saying the new Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act brings hope that it will “be the answer (to) suspect governing bodies like the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and the New York State Racing and Wagering Board calling balls and strikes in our sport.”

The last of its trademark caricatures, always with an accurately depicted face, lampooned horse owner Don Gamble, perhaps making him the answer to a trivia question about the history of Indian Charlie.

There was also a serious editorial calling into question the absence of trainers David Whiteley, Richard Hazleton and Dickie Small; jockeys Larry Snyder and John Lively; and horses Nodouble and Broad Brush from the National Racing Museum and Hall of Fame.

“The Last Word” took a swipe at animal-rights activists while being “100 percent all in for the federal intervention and tightening of all approved medications — except Lasix.”

Musselman did not go into detail about plans for his future. Instead, it was left to the newsletter to say “whatever direction we go in, any new pursuits going forward, will be announced first on this website.”

Indian Charlie archives will remain available at IndianCharlie.com.