The Kingmaker: How Northern Dancer Founded a Racing Dynasty

by Avalyn Hunter

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.

Genres: Horse Racing, Horses, Nonfiction, History, Animals

254 pages, Hardcover

First published April 17, 2006

Reviews

[Rena Sherwood · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a so-so book about the most influential thoroughbred of the twentieth (and possibly the twenty-first) century. Here he is back when he was racing in 1964:



Yes -- he was a small colt for a 20th century thoroughbred. His small size is actually a plus as taller horses tend to be more susceptible to back and leg problems than a "normal" sized horse (about 14 - 15 hands.) I would have liked to have seen this point about his confirmation made in this book, but it's glossed over.

I guess that's because this is NOT a hard or honest look at the business of horse racing and horse breeding. It's more of a "golly gee whiz" look at racing.



Why do I care? Northern Dancer can be found in the pedigrees of 75% to 90% of all thoroughbreds alive today (the estimates vary depending on who you read.) It's why the breed is so inbred and deteriorating.

The book focuses on Northern Dancer's sire, Nearco, then the Dancer and then his significant offspring, such as The Minstrel and Nijinsky. There sure are a lot of horses who die young without any explanation as to why. That bothered me.

Not much of anything on the ballyhooed "nick" of a Northern Dancer stud to a Secretariat mare, which was talked about a lot back in the 1980s and 1990s, when I was a fan of horse racing (now I hate racing -- but still love the horses. And reading about them.)

Overall, this book was just skimming the surface of potential. I felt like this was an early draft and the real completed book is hiding somewhere.

[Meghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good read about this prolific stallion. I knew next to nothing about him other than he won the Derby and I saw his name in almost every pedigree I looked at, but Hunter does a great job describing his career, personality and stud success. I'm not huge on bloodlines, so I kinda just skimmed his progeny looking for familiar names, but I really enjoyed the recounting of all his racing success and the little anecdotes here and there about his personality.

The end was a little sad for me reading about some of his descendants, especially the ones that died this year (Polish Navy and Sadler's Wells among them). But I just read that his great-grandson just hit 100 stake winners after finishing the book, so that was pretty neat. Would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in horse racing.

[Sumiko · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm really enjoying this book - cannot say what page I'm on except that she is already discussing his get.

Very interesting. Nice to contrast his life/career with that of Mr. Prospector.