HOUSTON -- Two former Calumet Farm executives were sent to federal prison Thursday, more than eight months after they were convicted of bribery and fraud related to the demise of the celebrated Kentucky thoroughbred stable.

U.S. District Judge Sim Lake sentenced former Calumet president J.T. Lundy to 4½ years in prison while Gary Matthews, the stable's one-time chief financial officer and legal counsel, got 21 months.

Both men were convicted Feb. 7 of conspiracy as well as fraud and bribery. Matthews received the lightest possible sentence based on Lake's reading of federal sentencing guidelines.

Lundy's punishment also was near the minimum, though Lake was unimpressed when defense attorney Dave McGee noted that the conviction already had "ruined" his client during a plea for further leniency.

"If he is ruined it is entirely because of his own crimes," Lake said toward the end of the five-hour sentencing hearing. "He's not an innocent victim of events. He's a convicted felon."

Lake also ordered each man to repay $20.5 million to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., which took over First City Bancorporation. The Houston thrift failed in 1991, shortly after Calumet, one of its largest loan customers, did.

A jury found that Lundy and Matthews paid now-defunct First City a $1.1 million bribe in exchange for $65 million in unsecured loans in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

According to prosecutors, the Calumet executives also offered the bank's vice chairman, Frank Cihak, two mares and breeding rights to Alydar, the farm's most decorated stud.

Alydar, insured for $35 million, mysteriously broke his right rear leg Nov. 13, 1990. A former Calumet groom, on duty the night Alydar was hurt, was convicted in 1998 of lying to a Houston grand jury investigating the horse's death and served a 10-month perjury sentence.

Cihak and four associates were convicted on fraud and money laundering charges. Cihak was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison in 1994, three years after both First City and Calumet failed.

Prosecutors blamed Calumet's demise on mismanagement and lavish spending by executives.

Most of Thursday's hearing was spent debating whether Lundy was behind the injury to Alydar, who underwent successful surgery but was destroyed soon after when he fell and broke another bone in the leg.

Prosecutors never have won as much as an indictment against anyone in connection for the death of Alydar, the runner-up to Affirmed in all three of 1978's Triple Crown races. Lake agreed Lundy had a motive to collect insurance money, but said the preponderance of the evidence was not there.

Lundy, who led Calumet from 1982 until it became the largest thoroughbred farm to fail in the industry's history, briefly pleaded for mercy before sentencing.

"I just want to say I'll rely on you to do what's right by me and I didn't intentionally do anything wrong," Lundy said.

Though Lake did show some leniency based on stringent federal sentencing guidelines, he erupted when McGee asked that Lundy remain free on bond during the appellate process.

"He's as guilty as sin based on my review of the evidence," Lake said, adding that he didn't think the defendant's appeals would go anywhere.

Matthews was repentant when he spoke to Lake.

"I truly regret what happened to First City Bancorporation, and particularly at Calumet Farm," said Matthews, an attorney whose Kentucky law license is suspended because of the conviction. "I certainly didn't intend to do anything illegal over that time period."

Lundy has about three months to report to prison, likely at a new unit in Coleman, Fla. Matthews, who requested confinement at the federal prison in Manchester, Ky., has about six months to report.

From 1934 until Lundy's arrival, Calumet produced 148 stakes winners and earned $26.4 million in purses. Its horses won eight Kentucky Derbys, seven Preakness Stakes and two Belmont Stakes. Triple Crown winners Whirlaway and Citation in the 1940s were from Calumet.

Entrepreneur Henryk de Kwiatkowski bought the Lexington-area stable for $17 million in a 1992 bankruptcy auction. He continues to operate it as a horse farm.