Last week, the Books of Note series looked at the recent biography Landaluce: The Story of Seattle Slew’s First Champion, an examination of the short life of the star-crossed filly Landaluce. For February’s Author Answers, let’s hear more from author Mary Perdue, who parlayed her love of the daughter of Seattle Slew into a book that not only covers the filly’s five starts but also the people, places, and names that made her.

I met Mary in 2019 as she was writing Landaluce and was delighted to see the fruit of her labors in this gorgeous book. She captures the spirit of the best that the sport can be and what happens when great Thoroughbreds take root in our souls. If you haven’t had a chance to pick up Landaluce, find it at your favorite bookseller. In the meantime, find Mary’s Author Answers below.

Landaluce is your first book. What experiences prepared you for the process of writing a book like this?

I have a grad degree in English Literature and always have loved reading and writing. At one time I thought I might get a PhD and teach. But I got sick of school and academia. I went to work in publishing and advertising and never looked back. I’ve been a racing fan since I was very young and never lost my love for it.

What part of the writing process do you enjoy most?

Everything except the actual writing. I loved the research, finding out about all the horses and people and events. It was like escaping into another world. I liked thinking about how to craft the story. I loved remembering how beautiful and electrifying Landaluce was. I enjoyed interviewing Laffit Pincay, John Williams, Laura Cotter, Bobby Barnett, Dr. Robert Copelan, Alan Buchdahl and of course Wayne. But when it comes to sitting down and writing, I could win an award for procrastination. Which is really stupid because once I’m in the flow of it, it can be very satisfying. Getting started each day when it was time to write was the hardest part.

You have written fiction and nonfiction. Which genre do you think is harder to write?

Nonfiction, by far. Fiction flows more naturally for me. I have no trouble creating characters and making up a story, all the details, letting my imagination go. Forcing myself to adhere to the structures required by non-fiction was not easy for me.

Tell us about the experience of writing this book. What was your process? How long did it take you to write this? What were your biggest challenges?

I began researching the book in late 2017. Two years later, I had about 20-30,000 words. I delivered a finished manuscript to the publisher about a year after that. Then another year spend on production, copy editing, footnotes, indexing, marketing, etc.

Because I’d never written a long non-fiction work, I think I was too cautious in retrospect about letting myself believe my research was “done.” In truth, it never is. I think you get to a place where you have to say to yourself it’s “good enough.” And then plunge in and just write, knowing you’ll end up revising and throwing out a lot of your work. And new details will emerge as you go that make you throw out certain assumptions and change chapters you really don’t want to change! Honestly, it was only when I delivered the final manuscript that I was finally at the place where I “knew” the story, and part of me felt like I should start completely over. But another part of me just wanted it to be done! I remember sitting down to write the first original material, which was the chapter about Landaluce being foaled and the history of her dam Strip Poker. The whole time I was writing it I felt tentative, like I didn’t know enough. I did have to revise that chapter many times, but some of that original material did make it into the book pretty much verbatim, so you never know.

Talk about your conversation with Landaluce’s trainer D. Wayne Lukas. Was it clear how he felt about the filly? What was it like revisiting that time with him?

I think looking back Wayne was very guarded the first time I interviewed him in person. And perhaps rightly so. He didn’t know me, and he’s been burned by a lot of writers. One of the most compelling and unanticipated parts of the story, at least for me, was how much Wayne truly loved Landaluce. She was not “business as usual” for him at the time. When I met him in 2019, I could tell she still meant so much to him, even 40 years later. This kind of dovetailed into what I wanted Landaluce’s story to be about: the feelings great thoroughbreds arouse in us and the long-lasting impact they have. What they stand for in our minds, separate and apart from charts, statistics, speed figures, race records, etc. The essence of the thoroughbred racehorse that lives in a place that’s beyond all that.

She’s been gone for nearly four decades, but I think each author has some sort of experience where they feel the presence of those they write about. Did you have a moment or a place where you felt a connection to the filly?

Great question. In the early days of researching, I became almost obsessed with figuring out where Landaluce was foaled and raised. Spendthrift changed so much over the years, it was hard to identify which parcels of land were part of it in 1980. I figured out the general vicinity on my own, and I remember one day when I was in Lexington pulling off on a side road from IronWorks Pike, knowing I had to be in the general area without being able to pinpoint the exact location. I got out of the car and just stood there, looking out on the beautiful and historic farmland, thinking about all the great thoroughbreds who were foaled, raised, trained, and buried within the area I could see, a distance of only a few miles. I took a lot of pictures, and pointed myself in all four directions, hoping I’d find out one day which photo actually captured her birthplace.

Then in 2019 John Williams came along and pointed out not only the barn where she was foaled, but the exact stall, which is now inside a farm called Stone Columns Stables, across the street from today’s Spendthrift. I’ll never forget the feeling I had standing in front of that stall with John the first time. Together, we walked through what used to be called the Old Widener Farm, which was once part of Elmendorf Farm. The idea that I was standing in pastures where Landaluce played as a foal and grazed with her dam Strip Poker and some of Spendthrift’s many other famous broodmares like Gold Digger, the dam of Mr. Prospector, kind of left me in shock. Eventually, I had a stall plate made and installed there thanks to the gracious Melanie Peterson Ramey. It was the closest I ever came to experiencing the physical presence of Landaluce.

What was your favorite event during this past year promoting Landaluce?

Definitely the guest lecture series at Keeneland Library. If it weren’t for the Library, this book wouldn’t exist. Everyone there helped me so much, and being there was always so soothing and satisfying. It’s just such a beautiful place. The first time I showed up there to do research and they had a cart made up for me with my name on it and all my materials arranged on shelves, I almost cried. So, to stand at a podium five years later, with close to 80 people present, many of whom were integral to Landaluce’s story, was an experience I’ll never forget.

What is your favorite racing memory?

Arrogate’s Travers in 2016. It was my first time at Saratoga, and I was lucky enough to be on the rail right at the final turn approaching the stretch. I saw that big gray whirlwind come powering around that turn like he was tearing a hole in the sky, and he just kept pulling further away against a field that included the likes of Exaggerator, Destin, Gift Box, Connect, Creator, Laoban, and Gun Runner. He made them all look like nothing. He broke a track record that day that had stood for 37 years.

Do you have a treasured memento from your time as a racing fan? What is the story behind it?

There’s a chapter in my book called “Her Sister’s Shoes” which is about the 1982 Keeneland yearling sale that took place right after Landaluce won the Hollywood Lassie Stakes by 21 lengths in 1:08.0 as a two-year-old. Her full sister Royal Strait Flush sold at that sale for $1.5 million because of Landaluce’s success. That sale was pivotal in establishing Seattle Slew as a top sire, and Royal Strait Flush was Landaluce’s only full sister since Strip Poker died from colic shortly after foaling her. John Williams had Royal Strait Flush’s shoes from that sale mounted on a plaque in his office for many years. He gave the plaque to me last year. It’s hard to think of a gift anyone has ever given me that comes close to matching that one.