Product Description

When Canadian industrialist and Thoroughbred breeder E.P. Taylor watched his well-bred, handsome colt pass unsold through the auction ring, he could hardly have envisioned the degree to which this seeming misfortune would boomerang in his favor. Named Northern Dancer, the sales reject proved his worth by winning the 1964 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes for Taylor. In doing so, he become a Canadian hero. And that was only the beginning. As a stallion, the diminutive Northern Dancer exerted a legendary influence on the breed, at one time commanding a million-dollar stud fee. International competition for his offspring created world records in the auction ring. Respected pedigree authority Avalyn Hunter explores how Northern Dancer and his sons have established a royal dynasty that has profoundly dominated the international bloodstock market.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #612489 in Books
• Published on: 2006-04-25
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

About the Author
One of the first pedigree books Avalyn Hunter can recall reading as a fifteen-year-old is Sir Charles Leicester's classic work Bloodstock Breeding , which twenty-five years later served as a model and an inspiration for Hunter's first book, American Classic Pedigrees 1914-2002 . Covering the race records, antecedents, and descendants of the winners of the American Triple Crown races plus the Kentucky Oaks and Coaching Club American Oaks for fillies, the massive work took some two years to write and was released in May 2003 by Eclipse Press. Hunter has also published the award-winning fiction stories "The Passing of the Torch" and "The Foundation," both prizewinners in the Thoroughbred Times' Biennial Fiction Contest, and writes pedigree articles regularly for The Blood-Horse, MarketWatch , and Owner-Breeder International .

Customer Reviews

Can be a bit tedious
Good insight into the impact Northern Dancer had on racing in... a lot of detail on lineage ... Enjoyed Stud a pretty good offering for pedigree enthusiasts

Great book and service
Great book and fast service. New condition that was just what I needed for gift-giving. Thanks!

Kingmaker indeed
Beautifully and sensitively written history of this most influential thorougbred, probably never another like him. His line still features strongly in both hemispheres. (American readers may be interested to know that our Australian Horse of the Year for 2006 - Makybe Diva - yes a filly! - won our Melbourne Cup 3 consecutive years (the first horse to do so) and amassed over US$10 million dollars, the all-time leading Australasian money-earner. Her grandsire was Danehill (USA), and his grandsire was Northern Dancer.
Great collection of photographs, but would have loved to have seen more of the King at various stages of his career/life. AND there is an index!
A must-have for anyone only vaguely interested in thoroughbred racing.