Audax Minor (1887 - October 8, 1979), the pen name of George F. T. Ryall, was a Canadian writer who worked as the horse racing columnist for The New Yorker for 52 years.
Ryall chose a pen name because at the time he was still writing for New York World;[1] he used this name in honor of Audax, the nom de plume of British racing journalist Arthur Fitzhardinge Berkeley Portman.
His column, "The Race Track," ran in The New Yorker, where he wrote from 1926 to 1978, a 52-year record of seniority at the magazine that was later eclipsed by Roger Angell, who wrote for The New Yorker from 1944 until his death in 2022 at the age 101, and by John McPhee, who has written for the magazine for 60 years, beginning in 1963.
"Being one of those peevish fellows who believe that every horse deserves a good name (and you'll find that, on the whole, the better racers are well named)," Ryall wrote in 1960, "I'm sorry to say this year's crop of two-year-olds has fared pretty badly... Ambiopoise... Nassue... Rulamyth..."[2] He also wrote for PM, The Blood-Horse, Town & Country, The Sportsman, Polo, and Country Life.
"[3] In 2013, Ryall was posthumously selected to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame's Joe Hirsch Media Roll of Honor.