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I am not sure there has ever been a bigger year for Northern Dancer's descendants. Just when it looked like his bloodlines could be trailing off his descendants manage to win every major classic race from every corner of the globe. Here is a list of the classics they won that I covered on my blog. I am sure I missed a few but this list is pretty impressive.
Japan Cup
Japan's Arima Kinen
Hong Kong Cup
Hong Kong Mile
Hong Kong Sprint
Hong Kong Vase
US Breeders Cup Classic
US Breeders Cup Mile
US Breeders Cup Juvenile
US Breeders Cup Turf
and 11 other Breeders Cup races
Austrailia's Melbourne Cup
France's Prix De L'arc de Triomphe
England's St Leger
England's Epson Derby
England's 2000 Guineas
Canada's Queens Plate
US Belmont Stakes
US Preakness Stakes
US Kentucky Derby
Dubai World Cup
Dubai Shema Classic
Duby Duty Free
and 4 other Dubai Stakes
Barbados Cup
If I had to pick something for everyone to watch to try to explain my little Canadian hero it would probably be this CBC documentary on their Life and Times series. It was first aired on March 31, 2005 on CBC and instrumental along with Muriel Lennox's book in my desire to document more of his story. Muriel is interviewed throughout the film. You can see this brilliant biography in 4 parts on youtube. Here is part 1. You can link to the other 3 parts off my blog (on the right side down below).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2FrZY4mjL4
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Monday, December 26, 2011
Arima Kinen 2011 to Japan's Triple Crown Winner Orfevre
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It was a fantastic field in this year's Arima Kinen in front of 115,000 fans. I wanted to see how the great mare Buena Vista fared but she was not a factor. The winner Orfevre won Japan's Triple Crown earlier this year and was the favorite. The top 3 finishers were all bred in Japan and all descendants of our Dancer to cap off an incredible year for the grandkids.
1) Orfevre great great grandson x2
2) Eishin Flash great great great grandson x2
3) To The Glory great great grandson x3
images from Japan Racing Association
video of race
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRVmkFFIHuY
It was a fantastic field in this year's Arima Kinen in front of 115,000 fans. I wanted to see how the great mare Buena Vista fared but she was not a factor. The winner Orfevre won Japan's Triple Crown earlier this year and was the favorite. The top 3 finishers were all bred in Japan and all descendants of our Dancer to cap off an incredible year for the grandkids.
1) Orfevre great great grandson x2
2) Eishin Flash great great great grandson x2
3) To The Glory great great grandson x3
images from Japan Racing Association
video of race
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRVmkFFIHuY
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Cup 2011 Summary
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Wow, what an exciting day at Hong Kong's beautiful Sha Tin racecourse with 60,000 people in attendance. Four great finishes in the big races and a perfect 13 for 13 top 3 finishes for descendants of Northern Dancer (bred in 8 different countries on 4 different continents). With a total purse of 68 million HK$ the grandkids brought in another $8 Million US$. Just when it was looking like some other bloodlines were starting to take hold the Norhern Dancer genes had a dominant year in 2011.
That's a pic of Dunaden winning the Vase earlier today completing his big double of the Melbourne Cup and Hong Kong Vase and Lucky Nine edging out Entrapment in the Sprint. Some of the many great photos on the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Cup site (click on to enlarge them).
Added the pics from the CP site of Able One winiing the Mile and California Memory winning the Cup and fireworks after the Cup.
The individual race results are just below this post - exciting stuff.
Videos of all HK races and connection to website
http://www.cxhkir.com/english/hkir2011/hkircx11-multimedia.asp
Wow, what an exciting day at Hong Kong's beautiful Sha Tin racecourse with 60,000 people in attendance. Four great finishes in the big races and a perfect 13 for 13 top 3 finishes for descendants of Northern Dancer (bred in 8 different countries on 4 different continents). With a total purse of 68 million HK$ the grandkids brought in another $8 Million US$. Just when it was looking like some other bloodlines were starting to take hold the Norhern Dancer genes had a dominant year in 2011.
That's a pic of Dunaden winning the Vase earlier today completing his big double of the Melbourne Cup and Hong Kong Vase and Lucky Nine edging out Entrapment in the Sprint. Some of the many great photos on the Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Cup site (click on to enlarge them).
Added the pics from the CP site of Able One winiing the Mile and California Memory winning the Cup and fireworks after the Cup.
The individual race results are just below this post - exciting stuff.
Videos of all HK races and connection to website
http://www.cxhkir.com/english/hkir2011/hkircx11-multimedia.asp
Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Cup 2011
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Wow, it was another exciting finsh as this year's Cup is a wrap. It was the beautiful grey American bred California Memory surging ahead at the finish to beat the German breds Irian and Zazou. All four races this year on Cup day were brilliant finishes and of course another 1-2-3 finish for the grandkids (yes even the grey).
1) California Memory (USA) great great grandson x3
2) Irian (GER) great great great grandson
3) Zazou (GER) great great grandson x3
Images from Getty
Race result and video of race
http://www.cxhkir.com/english/hkir2011/race-cup-result.asp
Wow, it was another exciting finsh as this year's Cup is a wrap. It was the beautiful grey American bred California Memory surging ahead at the finish to beat the German breds Irian and Zazou. All four races this year on Cup day were brilliant finishes and of course another 1-2-3 finish for the grandkids (yes even the grey).
1) California Memory (USA) great great grandson x3
2) Irian (GER) great great great grandson
3) Zazou (GER) great great grandson x3
Images from Getty
Race result and video of race
http://www.cxhkir.com/english/hkir2011/race-cup-result.asp
Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Mile 2011
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It was the nine year-old Able-One upsetting the Hong Kong Mile with City Scape second and the favorite Xtension third in yet another exciting finish. Another 1-2-3 finish for the grandkids bred in 3 different countries.
1) Able One (NZ) great great grandson x2
2) City Scape (JPN) Grandson
3) Xtension (IRE) great great great grandson
Images from Getty
Race result and video of race
http://www.cxhkir.com/english/hkir2011/race-mile-result.asp
It was the nine year-old Able-One upsetting the Hong Kong Mile with City Scape second and the favorite Xtension third in yet another exciting finish. Another 1-2-3 finish for the grandkids bred in 3 different countries.
1) Able One (NZ) great great grandson x2
2) City Scape (JPN) Grandson
3) Xtension (IRE) great great great grandson
Images from Getty
Race result and video of race
http://www.cxhkir.com/english/hkir2011/race-mile-result.asp
Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Sprint 2011
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Another exciting finish and this time a dead heat for second with Lucky Nine coming out on top of Entrapment and Joy and Fun in the Sprint. This time it's a 1-2-2 finish for the grandkids.
1) Lucky Nine (IRE) great great grandson x4 (through Dubawi and Dubai Millennium)
2) Entrapment (AUS) great great grandson x3
3) Joy and Fun (NZ) great great grandson x2
images from Getty
Race results and video of race
http://www.cxhkir.com/english/hkir2011/race-sprint-result.asp
Another exciting finish and this time a dead heat for second with Lucky Nine coming out on top of Entrapment and Joy and Fun in the Sprint. This time it's a 1-2-2 finish for the grandkids.
1) Lucky Nine (IRE) great great grandson x4 (through Dubawi and Dubai Millennium)
2) Entrapment (AUS) great great grandson x3
3) Joy and Fun (NZ) great great grandson x2
images from Getty
Race results and video of race
http://www.cxhkir.com/english/hkir2011/race-sprint-result.asp
Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Vase 2011
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Wow, Dunaden becomes the first to win both the Melbourne Cup and the Hong Kong Vase in a great finish. It was a 1-2-3-3 finish for the grandkids of Northern Dancer as Thumbs Up finished second and it was a dead heat for third between Silver Pond and Red Cadeaux.
1) Dunadedn (FR) great great grandson
2) Thumbs Up (NZ) great grandson x2
3) Silver Pond (Fr) great great grandson x3
3) Red Cadeaux (GB) great great grandson x3
images from Getty
Video of race and results
http://www.cxhkir.com/english/hkir2011/race-vase-result.asp
Wow, Dunaden becomes the first to win both the Melbourne Cup and the Hong Kong Vase in a great finish. It was a 1-2-3-3 finish for the grandkids of Northern Dancer as Thumbs Up finished second and it was a dead heat for third between Silver Pond and Red Cadeaux.
1) Dunadedn (FR) great great grandson
2) Thumbs Up (NZ) great grandson x2
3) Silver Pond (Fr) great great grandson x3
3) Red Cadeaux (GB) great great grandson x3
images from Getty
Video of race and results
http://www.cxhkir.com/english/hkir2011/race-vase-result.asp
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Cup - Sunday early am EST
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The Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Cup coverage is outstanding. The final 4 Gr 1 races including the Cup itself will start around 1:30 am EST from the beautiful Sha Tin racecourse. I will be following closely.
Here is their link where you can already catch up on a lot of the pre-race activities. Photo above of Breakfast with the Champions - a family day on Saturday at Sha Tin
http://www.cxhkir.com/english/hkir2011/main.asp
The Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Cup coverage is outstanding. The final 4 Gr 1 races including the Cup itself will start around 1:30 am EST from the beautiful Sha Tin racecourse. I will be following closely.
Here is their link where you can already catch up on a lot of the pre-race activities. Photo above of Breakfast with the Champions - a family day on Saturday at Sha Tin
http://www.cxhkir.com/english/hkir2011/main.asp
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