Avalyn Hunter became a fan of Thoroughbred racing as a child after seeing Secretariat’s Triple Crown victory. By age fifteen she had begun studying pedigrees as a hobby. American Classic Pedigrees is her first book and the culmination of her pedigree research. Hunter, who resides in Florida, also has written award-winning fiction short stories about horse racing.

Q: Why did you want to write a book on the American Classic winners?

A: Ever since I read Sir Charles Leicester's classic work Bloodstock Breeding at age fifteen, I have admired his treatment of the winners of the Epsom Derby. He packed a great deal of pedigree information into his work, yet it read like a good history -- almost a story -- with a wealth of detail woven in. I suppose the idea began brewing somewhere in the back of my mind that surely there should be a book like that regarding the winners of America's greatest
races, but when I finally began looking around for one, it simply didn't exist. So, in a burst of either inspiration or overconfidence -- take your pick! -- I decided that if no one else had tackled the job, I would!

Q: You have to be thrilled to see this book finally come to fruition. How long were you in researching American Classic Pedigrees and what kind of resources did you use?

A: In one sense, I've been researching the book since I was fifteen -- you probably would not believe all the old notebooks I had around filled with pedigree information. Most of them no longer exist, being the victims of
various moves and housecleanings, but a lot of the information stayed stored in memory. Then, after I got my first computer about fourteen years ago, I started putting together a personal database on stakes winners and the horses that produced them. I used every book and magazine I could get my hands on by purchase, public library, or Interlibrary Loan to contribute to that, and it really proved useful when I finally did get down to writing -- it's still around, although in pretty shabby shape because I haven't had time to work on updating it in a long time. Finally, I got Internet access about four years ago, and from there everything really snowballed. I've been a regular at the Del Mar Pedigree Query ever since I found the site -- I run around on their message board under the name of "Mahubah" -- and I've also visited sites like tbheritage, bloodlines.net, the Argentine Thoroughbred Gallery, the Australian and New Zealand Stud Book pages, and the Churchill Downs and NYRA web pages quite often. I'm also a member of an Internet forum for people who are serious about researching pedigrees, and that's been a great help at times in researching some odd facts.

Q: How long did it take to write this book--all 792 pages--and did you ever think you'd finish it?

A: I began work on American Classic Pedigrees in November 2000 and finished the first draft in May or early June of 2002 -- since then, it's been a matter of surviving the editing process. I don't think I ever had any real doubts that I would finish the book, but if I had realized how little I knew when I started this thing compared to what I know now that I've finished it, I don't know if I ever would have worked up the confidence to tackle such a massive project!

Q: How did you decide on 1914 as the beginning of the modern era of racing and your starting point for the book?

A: The key for me was Old Rosebud's victory in the 1914 Kentucky Derby, which to my mind marked the beginning of the Derby's rise to its position as the preeminent American Classic. I suppose I could have begun a year earlier, since the New York racing blackout ended in 1913 and one could say the modern racing era began then, but 1914 seemed to mark the point at which racing was really getting back onto its feet and beginning its evolution towards what we have today.

Q: You write that essentially "class begets class." Are there any other trends among the Classic winners that you discovered?

A: Not only is class important, but breeding for stamina is also. You don't find many pure sprinters in Classic pedigrees despite their prevalence in the American Thoroughbred population, and those that have done well in this department have been mostly stallions who have shown the ability to take advantage of stamina in their mates' pedigrees. The one notable exception on the distaff side that immediately comes to mind is Mumtaz Mahal, who is the head of a great Classic family despite the fact that she herself did not really stay more than six furlongs, but her mates and those of her daughters and granddaughters were mostly English Classic winners or horses of similar caliber who had demonstrated the ability to transmit stamina. I believe the requirement for stamina is one reason why Classic pedigrees and the commercial market have diverged as much as they have, since the commercial market favors precocity and early speed; the discrepancy is even more marked when you get to the major races at ten furlongs and up for older horses, because at that point soundness as well as stamina becomes a major factor. I'm not saying that commercial breeders don't care about soundness or stamina -- after all, they would prefer that the horses they sell give every satisfaction, since that draws repeat business -- but they are tied to the demands of the market, and most buyers would like to see a return on their investments as quickly as possible.

The other thing that has struck me is the predominance of just a few exceptional animals in the pedigrees of Classic winners. In the first part of the century, for instance, you see a lot of deep line breeding to Stockwell and
his dam Pocahontas; English Classic winners like Hermit, Spearmint, and Touchstone also wield a lot of influence. Then, by mid-century, you start seeing a lot more inbreeding and line breeding involving St. Simon, Domino, and
Ben Brush. Now, *Teddy, *Nasrullah, Nearco, and Hyperion are names that you see over and over again in the fifth through eighth removes of Classic pedigrees, and I don't think it will be too long before we start seeing Northern Dancer and perhaps *Turn-to in a similar pattern.

Q: You've also written some short stories and freelance magazine articles. Do you have any new writing projects in the works?

A: Actually, I've been considering a couple of possible book projects. One would essentially be a continuation of American Classic Pedigrees, focusing on North American-bred runners who have won European Classics and the influence they have wielded. The other idea is for a guide to South American racing and breeding that would give Northern Hemisphere horsemen information they could use in evaluating South American form and pedigrees. When the Keeneland library describes their collection of information on South America as "spotty"
and books on the topic are tough to locate even within the countries in question, you know there's a major area just crying out for research. The only drawback to that project is that I'd probably have to learn to read Spanish a lot better than I do, which would be a project in itself.

Q: What do you hope readers take away from reading and using American Classic Pedigrees?

A: I hope they will gain both a deeper understanding of the bloodlines that have produced Classic winners and a greater appreciation for the magnificent animals whose stories make up this book.

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