‘A fountain of knowledge on the turf’: farewell to respected author and journalist

Alan Yuill Walker, the knowledgeable and respected bloodstock author and journalist died peacefully surrounded by his family on 18 March, following a long illness, aged 87.

Alan was born in Bournemouth on 26 June 1938. He came from a non-equestrian family, but his father Dr John Yuill had farmed in Oxfordshire.

Alan went to school at Lancing College in West Sussex, then studied land management at the then Royal Agricultural College. He developed an interest in horses and writing from an early age.

He went to work for Sir David Wills at Hadrian Stud in Newmarket, after the stud manager Douglas Gray offered him a job, sparking his interest in thoroughbred breeding. Following this he worked for the British Bloodstock Agency and London Bloodstock Agency compiling pedigrees and started a 40-year writing career for publications including British Racehorse, or Stud & Stable, Pacemaker, Bloodstock Breeders, and Horse & Hound.

Alan’s great knowledge and passion led to him writing six books, including Thoroughbred Studs of Great Britain, trainer Bill Wightman’s biography Months of Misery, Moments of Bliss and his final book Prophet’s Thumb Mark.

Alan married Valerie Taylor in 1969 and the couple had two daughters, Georgina and Lavinia. Alan retired aged 80 and he and Valerie moved from Lambourn to Kintbury, spending Alan’s final three years in Hungerford.

“My father’s world revolved around the breeding of racehorses; the studs and the people and horses. His greatest joy was spending a day walking around a stud and gathering information,” said Georgina.

“Since his passing we have heard so many wonderful things said about him; one person said ‘No need for AI when Alan was around, he was a fountain of knowledge on the turf’. He just knew everything from the last 50 years on the breeding of racehorses.”