Breeders Cup 2010 - Day 1 - Filly and Mare Turf

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It was the first ever Breeders Cup under the lights but not the first ever 1-2-3 finish for Northern Dancer granddaughters. Winner Shared Account is owned by another relative newcomer in Kevin Plank of Under Armour fame.

1) Shared Account - great-great granddaughter (x2)
2) Midday - great-great granddaughter (x3)
3) Keertana - great-great granddaughter

That's Edgar Prado and Shared Account upsetting last year's winner Midday in the Filly and Mare Turf (photo from AP and yahoo sports)

Video Link for race
http://www.breederscup.com/division.aspx?divisionname=fmturf

Breeders Cup 2010 - Day 1 - Juvenile Fillies

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Could this be the next Zenyatta? Awesome Feather remains undefeated to take the Juvenile Fillies and it's a 1-2-3 finish for our Dancer's granddaughters.

1) Awesome Feather - great-great granddaughter (x2)
2) R Heat Lightning - great-great-great granddaughter
3) Delightful Mary - great-great granddaughter (x3)

That's Jeffrey Sanchez riding Awesome Feather to victory in the Juvenile Fillies (photo from Andy Lyons/Getty Images and yahoo sports)

Video Link for Race
http://www.breederscup.com/division.aspx?divisionname=juvenilefillies

Breeders Cup 2010 - Day 1 - Filly and Mare Sprint

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Finally things are settling down. This time it's only a 2-3 finish for the Dancer's granddaughters as the non-descendant Dubai Majesty pulls off the victory.

1) Dubai Majesty
2) Switch - great-great granddaughter
3) Evening Jewel - great-great granddaughter (x3)

That's Switch chasing Dubai Majesty in the stretch of the Filly and Mare Sprint (courtesy of AP and yahoo sports)

Video Link for Race
http://www.breederscup.com/division.aspx?divisionname=fmsprint

Breeders Cup 2010 - Day 1 - Juvenile Fillies Turf

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Day 1 continued with some unusual happenings as the horses were loaded in the wrong gate positions and all had to be reloaded but it was a 1-2-3 finish this time for Northern Dancer granddaughters. The winner More Than Real is owned by celebrity chef Bobby Flay.


1) More Than Real - great-great granddaughter (x2)
2) Winter Memories - great grandaughter
3) Kathmanblu - great-great granddaughter (x2)

That's More Than Real with Garrett Gomez on board - well back early in the race and then crossing the finish line (photos from Getty Images and yahoo sports)

Video Link
http://www.breederscup.com/division.aspx?divisionname=jfturf

Breeders Cup 2010 - Day 1 - The Marathon

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The Breeders Cup got off to a rowdy start with a DQ and a jockey brawl but it was a typical 1-2 finish for grandkids of our Dancer.

1) Eldaafer - great-great-great grandson
2) Gabriel's Hill - great grandson
3) A U Miner

That's Eldaafer with John Velasquez aboard after crossing the finish line in the Breeders Cup Marathon. (phoyo from Gette images and Yahoo sports)

Video link for the race
http://www.breederscup.com/division.aspx?divisionname=dirtmarathon
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Melbourne Cup 2010

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It was another 1-2-3 finish for descendants of Northern Dancer in this year's 150 th running of Australia's Melbourne Cup.

1) Americain great-great grandson (x2)
2) Maluckyday great-great grandson
3) So You Think great-grandson

Gerrald Mosse abaord Americain celebrates crossing the finish line.

Link to the race video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3QxFt6AA8Q

It truly was a Queen's Plate

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.... with her majesty Queen Elizabeth II on hand to give away the winner's trophy to the connections of Big Red Mike. It was another 1-2-3 finish for descendants of Northern Dancer - more specifically Vice Regent with Big Red Mike, Hotep and Roan Irish finishing in that order.

Great Great Grandson X3 Drosselmeyer wins Belmont

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Sorry, I have been out of touch for a while. Drosselmeyer took this year's Belmont. His sire Distorted Humor is out of the Danzig mare Danzig's Beauty and his dam Golden Ballet was California horse-of-the-year in 2001 out of Nijinsky's son Moscow Ballet. There was also some Storm Bird blood on the dam's side. Second place finisher Fly Down and third place First Dude are not descendants of our Dancer.

Two out of three ain't bad

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Lookin at Lucky wins the 2010 Preakness over First Dude. Jackson Bend finished third. Lookin at Lucky is a great-great-grandson of the Dancer through his dam Private Feeling a daughter of a son of Danzig, Belong To Me. Private Feeling's fourth dam was Northern Dancer's daughter Sleek Dancer from his third crop of foals in 1968. First Dude was not a descendant of Northern Dancer but he does have some Nearco blood to go along with some Native Dancer. Jackson Bend is a great-great-great grandson through his dam Sexy Stockings (Storm Cat and Storm Bird line). That's a Reuters image above.

Kentucky Derby 2010 Descendants 1-2-3

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It was another 1-2-3 finish for descendants of our little Dancer. Before I hear it from someone else - yes probably more than 75% of the entries were descendants - I didn't check them all this year. The winner, Super Saver was a Great-Great Grandson through the Dancer's amazing daughter Dance Number who has done a lot to carry on the Dancer's lines. Second place finisher, Ice Box was a Great-Grandson through Sadler's Wells and the third place finisher, Paddy O'Prado was a Great-Great-Great Grandson through Storm Cat and Storm Bird. The emotion of this race is still there for me and I too thought Calvin Borel was crying along with me when the band struck up "My Old Kentucky Home". The photo is from AP.

The mare Dance Number made the title in chapter 27 of my book. She was the leading money winner of the Dancer's 1979 crop of foals and set track records at Belmont and Aqueduct when she won stakes there. She only produced 6 foals before her death in 1991 but they were all winners including the 1989 Eclipse Champion two-year-old Rhythm. Dance Number's daughter Get Lucky (1988) was a full sister to Rhythm and the grand-dam of Super Saver through daughter Supercharger. There are descendants of those 6 foals of Dance Number having success all around the world and now there is a Kentucky derby winner in their midst.