Dynasties; Great Thoroughbred Stallions

Edward Bowen has selected what he thinks are the most important sires of the twentieth century and devoted a chapter to each, giving their own achievements and those of their descendants, as well as information about some of the more interesting people involved. To this end, he has included one or two sire lines that might not actually be the most important, but where their story is particularly interesting. In his introduction, the author acknowledges that the Challenger sire line was selected instead of the Count Fleet or Pharamond lines precisely because it presented a more interesting story. None of them were essential based purely on their importance.Of course, all the essential lines that are still thriving are there, including Nearco and Native Dancer, who between them have each established several important sire lines. Indeed, a significant proportion of the book is devoted to those stallions and their descendants, which include Storm cat, America's leading sire at the turn of the millennium, and Sadlers Wells, Europe's equivalent.This book is not a comprehensive guide to sire lines. Although there are charts near the back of the book giving diagrams of the sire lines covered by the book, they do not list once-important but now extinct lines like the Diomed/Lexington line - a line that was already struggling at the beginning of the twentieth century, but somehow survived into the 1980's. Indeed, there is no diagram of the Herod dynasty at all, although a different branch of it survives in Europe, most notably via the Irish stallion Indian Ridge.Also, the diagrams that are present focus, with few exceptions, on those branches where a stallion was standing in America at the time the book was written. Of course, this is understandable, as it is a book about American bloodlines, but since thoroughbred breeding is international, it is a bit misleading. The Hyperion line is not as close to extinction as the diagram makes it appear, although its long term future is uncertain.Still, I have learned that the best place to look for comprehensive sire line charts is on the internet, which has the advantage of being more up-to-date than any book is ever likely to be. Despite my reservations about the charts, the author is a great storyteller and the charts will be sufficient for most purposes.

This was a great addition to my collection of racehorses both Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses because some of the best QH racers had Thoroughbred backgrounds.

Unless you are fond of race horses, this is not the book for you. That being said, if you are interested in how racehorses are bred and family lines are developed,this book os very complete and the author throws in some interesting stories about the most famous champions.

Beautiful book. Lots of great information on some incredible thoroughbreds...

Excellent condition , v good value

Edward L. Bowen is an excellent historian of thoroughbreds. His writing and information provided is very interesting. This is a great addition to my collection.

Excelent.

As an owner of a thoroughbred, the lineage for my horse was important to me, this assisted me in educating myself as to his lineage-

Ed Bowen has written an excellent series of books Al of which are worth reading

this book was an excellent value and very informative on great American racehorses

A great read for the enthusiast

Real interesting read for race enthusiasts. I enjoyed every chapter and would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in bloodlines and pedigrees.