Review: Legacies of the Turf: A Century of Great Breeders (Vol. 2)

In the second volume of Legacies of the Turf, Ed Bowen covers the second half of the 20th century. Picking up where he left off, the interesting stories of these men and the horses they bred and race continue to fascinate the follower of racing history. Bowen wrote, "Some breeders, such as Paul Mellon, Ogden Phipps, Alfred Vanderbilt, and Calumet Farm had such lengthy careers that placing them in the first half or last half of the 20th century was more a coin-flip than an assessment."

Having read Volume 1, released earlier in 2004, one can see a "changing of the guard" when you read the breeders featured here. These were not establishment families who have been in racing for generations. Instead, they made their fortune in other businesses and then got into the sport for entertainment initially. Allen Paulson built and flew airplanes, E.P. Taylor was a Canadian real estate tycoon, while W.T. Young developed Jif peanut butter and sold the rights to Procter and Gamble. Later they would be better known for their homebreds Cigar, Northern Dancer, and Storm Cat, respectively. Going to the yearling sales, they bought horses not only to race but to start a breeding operation, and the rest as they say is history. Obviously, the best breeding prospects are bought by the highest bidder, so over time, you start to see the same names appear in most of the champion pedigrees, since only the richest breeders can afford to buy the most expensive broodmares and the high stud fees. Some, like Nelson Bunker Hunt, preferred to ship their horses to Europe to race, since until recently European racing was seen as superior. Northern Dancer's rise to supremacy began with his son Nijinsky, also bred by E.P. Taylor, winning the English Triple Crown. Like in the first volume, Bowen includes useful lists of champions and stakes winners for each breeder, and includes the foundation mares appendix once again. Students of pedigree will find this information indispensible.