THE HAGUE — The celebrated dead-horse revival of 2019, long regarded as the defining miracle of the modern game, was a coordinated exhibition, sworn statements filed Monday with the Tribunal of the International Cribbage Association allege. According to the statements, Mr. Tony Cullen administered a series of kicks to the animal in question, after which Ms. Alicia Lake performed the shuffle to which the animal’s subsequent recovery has since been attributed.
The 2019 incident has been a fixture of the Association’s institutional self-understanding since shortly after its occurrence. Ms. Lake’s celebrated Double Lotus Shuffle, performed in the case in question on the hindquarter of a horse believed to have been dead for some minutes, was credited at the time with restoring the animal to apparent good health. The Internationale Wereldwijde Cribbage Champions Associatie (IWCCA) accorded the shuffle the formal designation of Technique of Historical Importance by resolution of its 2020 General Meeting.
The sworn statements before the Tribunal — submitted by four field observers of the WICC, the names of whom are withheld at the witnesses’ request — describe an arrangement in which Mr. Cullen administered the kicks, the animal subsequently lost consciousness, and Ms. Lake then performed the shuffle before a paying audience that included two members of the international press.
The statements draw particular attention to Mr. Cullen’s consistent use, in his own correspondence regarding such incidents, of the qualifier allegedly. The Tribunal, in a preliminary observation released through the Office of the Director, has indicated that it has “taken note” of the usage.
The IWCCA confirmed Tuesday that it has opened a formal review of the Double Lotus Shuffle’s historical designation, with a determination expected in the course of the present calendar year. The commissioned portrait of Mr. Cullen in the IWCCA Hall of Champion has, in the interim, been covered with a heavy tarpaulin at the recommendation of the IWCCA Council. The companion painting of Ms. Lake, depicting her in the (figurative) Sistine pose long understood as symbolic of her contributions to the game, has been relocated to the basement archive of the Suckling House Secretariat at the request of the Office of the Director.
Counsel for Mr. Cullen and Ms. Lake declined comment in advance of the Tribunal’s reconvening.
Mr. D. Ronne (Pi Level, 3.14) remains the lowest-ranked individual ever inducted into the Association. The mentorship of Mr. Cullen and Ms. Lake notwithstanding, Mr. Ronne’s rank has not advanced since the 2025 sector resolution at which it was conferred.
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