Fiction
Date Published: February 28, 2025
Publisher: MindStir Media
The Belmont is a tale of a young man’s struggles with a heartbreak he
cannot get past, set against the backdrop of a bacchanalia-filled weekend
centered around the 1998 Belmont Stakes horse race, which ended with a
Triple Crown bid thwarted by a photo finish. During a long
“weekend” spread out over six days and in three different states,
a weekend fueled by alcohol and sexual tension, but also filled with
reflective, heartbreaking, exhilarating, hilarious, and heartwarming
moments, Tommy Cippolini embarks on a journey of self-discovery,
experiencing just about every single human emotion along the way. In between
episodes filled with anger and frustration, anticipation, anxiety,
disappointment, sexual arousal and temptation, binge drinking, daringness
and trepidation, hilarity and debauchery, and longing and sadness, Tommy
confides in good friends, casual friends, strangers, and family members
about his feelings and past trials and tribulations.
About the Author
My name is Anthony Cocco. I’m 59 years old and a native of
Malden, Massachusetts, but I’ve spent most of the last 21 years living
about 20 miles north of Boston. Since 1997, I’ve worked in the
financial services industry (some asset managers and some retirement
services providers), in various roles, and recently started my fifth
different job in that industry in February of 2025. Prior to that, I worked
(out of college) in the health insurance field, mainly in customer and
provider relations (three different companies in two different
states—Massachusetts and Florida).
I am the fourth (and final) child born to the late Morris and Dorothy
Cocco. I have two living (and one recently deceased) siblings, one brother
and one sister (my eldest sister passed away suddenly in July 2024 at age
72).
I have no children of my own and have never been married, but I do have
five nieces and nephews (3 of the former and 2 of the latter), two of which
are the daughters of my late sister. Since I’m the only one of our
parents’ kids to have remained living (for the most part) in
Massachusetts, the rest of my family (except for some cousins) is somewhat
spread out across the country.
I attended the State University of New York at New Paltz from 1984-88,
where I earned a (largely unused) degree in Journalism (I wanted to be a
sports broadcaster but got sidetracked when someone convinced me I needed to
be a sportswriter instead). It wasn’t long before I realized that
vocation wasn’t a good match for me, but my years at New Paltz
weren’t entirely wasted because it was during that time when I met one
of my lifelong friends, the guy who introduced me to the “Belmont
Stakes crew”—his friends from his youth and from his undergrad
college years. One of the main characters in my book is based on him, and
all of the characters that make up the entire Belmont “tribe”,
as I call it in the book, are based on his friends and other acquaintances.
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