Well known editor, author and steeplechasing expert Peter Winants, age 82, died on May 18, 2009, at his home in Rectortown, VA, following a long battle with Hodgkin’s disease.

Born 1926 in Baltimore, Maryland to Frances Bonsal and Peter Winants, the younger Peter was ultimately raised on My Lady's Manor by his widowed mother and her second husband, noted horseman S. Bryce Wing.

Winants attended Pomfret School in Connecticut and Princeton University. Following a stint in the Army in WWII, Winants opened a successful photography business in Baltimore with his brother, Garry. In the beginning photographing horses and equine sports were only a small part of their work, but soon Peter Winants added freelance jobs, including writing, fulfilling his pent-up passion for racing, especially steeplechasing and he was soon a regular contributor to The Maryland Horse.

His first book was Jay Trump, A Steeplechasing Saga, a perceptively written story accented by Winants’ photographs of the 1965 English Grand National and Crompton “Tommy” Smith, the first American rider in the race’s history to win that event. There are now four additional books by Winants in print: Flatterer; Foxhunting with Melvin Poe; Steeplechasing, A Complete History of the Sport in North America; and The Sporting Art of Franklin B. Voss. At the time of his death, he was working on a new book about the legendary Virginia horsewoman and Piedmont Master of Foxhounds, Theodora Randolph.

In 1972, Winants became the editor of The Chronicle of the Horse in Middleburg, the heart of Virginia horse country. At his retirement in 1991, Winants immediately undertook the evolution of the new National Sporting Library, moving from a damp space in the basement of the Chronicle building to a stunning new, self-contained facility of its own.

In 2009, the Maryland Hunt Cup Association honored Peter Winants with the S. Bryce Wing award, presented to a person who has made a significant contribution to timber racing in Maryland.

Peter Winants is survived by his wife Mary Weeden, his sons, Peter Winants, Jr., of Blue Mount, VA, and G. Woods Winants of Middleburg, VA, a daughter Jennifer Rose of Cresta Butte, CO, and six grandchildren. He was predeceased by his wife Rose of Middleburg and his brother Garet of Monkton.

Burial services are private. A memorial reception will be held on Tuesday, May 26 from 1:00-4:00 PM at the National Sporting Library in Middleburg, VA. In lieu of flowers the family suggests donations to the Piedmont Environmental Council, P.O. Box 460, Warrenton, VA 20188; or the charity of your choice.