Northern Dancer
Northern Dancer (
May 27,
1961 -
November 16,
1990) was a
Canadian-bred
thoroughbred racehorse and the most successful sire in racing history.
A bay
colt, Northern Dancer was by
Nearctic-Natalma, by
Native Dancer. In 1952,
Edward P. Taylor,
Canadian business magnate and owner of
Windfields Farm, had attended the December sale at
Newmarket, England where he purchased Lady Angela, a mare in foal to
Nearco. Two years later she was bred again with Nearco, producing a colt named
Nearctic who was voted the 1958
Sovereign Award for Horse of the Year. From Nearctic and the mare
Natalma, a daughter of the great
Native Dancer, came Northern Dancer.
*Breeder:
E. P. Taylor *Owner: E. P. Taylor
*Trainer:
Horatio LuroNorthern Dancer was ridden by
Ron Turcotte in his first victory as a two-year-old. Before the running of the Blue Grass Stakes at
Keeneland in
Lexington, Kentucky, trainer
Horatio Luro asked jockey
Bill Shoemaker to make a commitment to ride either Northern Dancer or the more promising colt,
Hill Rise. Shoemaker went with the unbeaten Hill Rise, believing the colt represented his best chance for a win at the prestigious
Kentucky Derby. As a result of Shoemaker's decision,
Bill Hartack became Northern Dancer's permanent jockey, guiding him to his best season in
1964 at age 3 when he won the
Flamingo Stakes,
Florida Derby,
Blue Grass Stakes,
Kentucky Derby, the
Preakness Stakes, and the
Queen's Plate. He was also named the
Eclipse Award champion 3-year-old of 1964.
In his two years of racing, Northern Dancer won 14 of his 18 races and never finished worse than third. In
The Blood-Horse ranking of the
top 100 U.S. thoroughbred champions of the 20th Century, Northern Dancer was ranked #43.
Northern Dancer stood at Taylor's stud farm in
Maryland until his retirement and was the most successful sire in
thoroughbred horse-racing history. His offspring have earned more money and won more major stakes races than those of any other sire, including
North American,
Japanese,
Australian and
European champions. He sired 146 stakes winners including the great
Nijinsky II, winner of
England's Triple Crown, as well as
The Minstrel,
Shareef Dancer,
Secreto,
El Gran Senor,
Franfreluche and multiple champion sire
Sadler's Wells. He was also an exceptionally prepotent sire (a sire of sires of stakes winners such as
Miesque). In the 1983
Keeneland auction, one of Northern Dancer's colts named Snaafi Dancer became the first $10 million yearling.
Although he has been dead for more than fifteen years, there are more Northern Dancer line
Breeder's Cup winners than any other horse.
Nothern Dancer won the American
Eclipse Award as Three-Year Old Male Champion of 1964 and the
Sovereign Award for Horse of the Year. In 1965, he became the first horse to ever be voted into
Canada's Sports Hall of Fame, an honour he held for thirty-one years and now shares with Canadian Equestrian Champion
Big Ben (inducted 1996). On its formation he was part of the first group of inductees into the
Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame and was inducted into the
National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1976. He was retired from stud (breeding) on
April 15,
1987 at the age of 26. He died in 1990 and is memorialized at
Windfields Farm in
Oshawa, Ontario,
Canada. In 1999,
Canada Post honored the horse with his image placed on a
postage stamp. A residential street was named after the horse on the former site of the
Greenwood Race Track in east-end Toronto.
During the past forty years, a number of books have been written about Northern Dancer with the latest two editions coming out in
2006. One, by respected pedigree authority Avalyn Hunter, author of
"American Classic Pedigrees (1914-2002)," recounts how Northern Dancer and his sons have established a royal dynasty that has profoundly dominated the international bloodstock market.
*Lennox, Muriel.
Northern Dancer: The Legend and His Legacy (Hushion House Publishing Ltd: 1995) ISBN 0969902506
*Hunter, Avalyn.
The Kingmaker : How Northern Dancer Founded a Racing Dynasty. (Eclipse Press : 2006) ISBN 1581501374
*Gamble-Arsenault, Debbie.
Great Canadian Race Horses: The Incredible Feats of Northern Dancer and other Speed Demons (Altitude Publishing : 2006) ISBN 1554390001
*
Unofficial Thoroughbred Hall of Fame*
Northern Dancer's pedigree*
Northern Dancer's Kentucky Derby
