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From just 35 foals in 1989 Ajdal is still having an influence on today's international racing scene. Sir Percy's first crop of foals have just gone to market with a lot of fan fair and anticipation. I don't think we have heard the last of the 2007 pensioned Mark of Esteem and Daggers Drawn is still producing. The world number 10 ranked runner Youmzain is the grandson of another Ajdal mare in Anima through her winning daughter Sadima (1998) who has produced 3 winners out of her first 4 foals. Youmzain was the winner of almost 3 million pounds and had three second place finishes in the Prix de L'arc behind three pretty good horses in Sea the Stars (2009) Zarkava (2008) and Dylan Thomas (2007). It will be interesting to follow his career as a stallion.
Something I just found out about Ajdal this week was that he held the record for highest price paid for a buy back at the Keeneland Sales for 23 years. Ralph Wilson (Buffalo Bills owner) declined a 7.4 million bid for him in 1985 and opted to buy him back for 7.5 million. That record was broken in 2008 by the Allen E Paulson estate for their yearling Vallenzeri out AP Indy and the 2002 horse of the year in the Dancer's great great granddaughter Azeri. Vallenzeri was later sold for 1.9 million as a two-year-old in training and just won his debut race at Santa Anita on Dec 30, 2009 under his new name Take Control.
Youmzain's gutsy second place finish to Dylan Thomas in the 2007 Prix de L'arc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yCFYgnlD6ao
Youmzain's second place finish to Zarkava in 2008
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYR8vaj_fk0
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Saturday, February 6, 2010
Chapter 34
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What Might Have Been ... Ajdal
What Might Have Been ... Ajdal
Chapel of Dreams led the 1984 crop in earnings and possibly in extending the Dancer’s lines. She was a 3/4 sister to Storm Cat. As a three year old she only managed to place in 4 stakes but as a four year old she won several including the Palomar and Wilshire Handicaps (G2s).
She produced six winners in all but none of them had any stakes success. Seeking The Dream (1995) ($201,034 37-6-5-2), If Angels Sang (1994) ($108,715 20-4-1-3) and Goldkeeper (1990) ($75,916 13-4-2-1) were her best runners. Neither Seeking The Dream nor If Angels Sang had any significant offspring but Goldkeeper stands at stud in South Africa where he was ranked 4th on the general list of sires for 2006 thanks in large part to his stakes winning, gelding son Goldsmith (2001) ($70,000 22-6-9-0). His Zimbabwe bred daughter Battle Maiden was named Champion South African Older Filly in 2004 after winning the 2004 Garden Province Stakes. Goldkeeper had to be moved from Zimbabwe to South Africa in 2000 because of the political unrest at the time.
Chapel of Dreams’ daughter Bridal Tea (1991) managed only one win on the track but she produced Postponed (1997) ($312,332 22-4-5-2) a G2 stakes winner at Belmont. Postponed is now standing at stud in New Zealand where he was the number one sire of second crop foals in 2006. His daughter Dorabella (2003) won the New Zealand classic One Thousand Guineas. He has a few other stakes winners to his credit also in just his first 2 crops of foals.
Chapel of Dreams’ winless daughter Weiner Wald (1992) produced the French stakes winner On Reflection (1999) ($110,805 35-4-6-6) who in turn produced the winless mare Agent Du Bois (1996), dam of Ticker Tape (2001) ($1,452,396 31-8-9-5). Ticker Tape was born in Great Britain but raced in the U.S. winning the American Oaks at Hollywood Park and the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland amongst her many stakes wins.
Chapel Of Dreams’ bloodlines are extending widely in terms of generations and geography and like fine wine they seem to be improving with age.
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Northern Dancer’s son Ajdal did not earn as much money as Chapel Of Dreams but he had a much more successful career on the track racing in Europe. As a two year old he won the William Dewhurst Stakes. At three he won the William Hill Sprint Championship and Norcros July Cup both G1s amongst his stakes victories. He was Europe’s Champion Sprinter in 1987.
Ajdal would stand at owner Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s Dalham Hall Stud for his one and only season. His story could be one of the most tragic of all the Dancer’s direct offspring. On August 8, 1988 at the end of his first season in the breeding shed, Ajdal had to be put down after fracturing a hind leg. In just one crop of foals, let’s see what he produced.
Cezanne (1989) ($311,593 14-5-3-3) won the Spreti-Rennen in Germany before winning the Champion stakes in Ireland. Little Bean (1989) ($200,000 13-4-4-0) won the Suffolk Stakes, Tnt Aviation Handicap and Schweppes Golden Mile. Both Cezanne and Little Bean were geldings. Little Bean’s racing career ended when he fractured a coffin bone but it didn’t end his life. With a Canadian twist to his story “Beanie” was sent to the University of Guelph where they repaired the bone and he started a new career in hunting, jumping and dressage.
Garah (1989) ($68,951 16-4-3-3) was the third leading money winner of Ajdal’s only crop. She placed in several stakes before retiring to produce Olden Times (1998) ($350,000 13-3-0-3) winner of the Prix Jean Prat. He also finished third in the Lockinge and St James’s Palace Stakes.
Ajdal’s daughter Ahbab was a winner on the track before she retired to produce the gelding New Seeker (2000) ($313,031 13-3-3-2), winner of the Brittania Handicap at Royal Ascot.
Ajdal’s unraced daughter Homage perhaps had the biggest impact on the sport and emphasizes the tragic loss of her sire at such a young age. Homage produced 6 foals of which 2 were winners. One winner was Mark Of Esteem (1994) ($564,007 7-4-1-0) out of Darshaan. He was declared European Champion Miler in 1997 after winning the Two Thousand Guineas and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes and earning a Timeform rating of 137. Mark of Esteem had already proven himself as a very capable sire when he suffered the loss of a testicle following colic surgery in 2004. He still covered over 90 mares in the 2005/6 seasons before being pensioned in 2007 due to low fertility. He produced over 500 foals with 75% runners and 53% winners and of those, a respectable 7% stakes winners. His most successful runner was the 2006 Epsom Derby winner and Two Thousand Guineas runner up, Sir Percy (2003) ($1,874,096 7-5-1-0) who was Champion Two Year Old of England after he also won the Darley Dewhurst Stakes. Sir Percy’s acceleration in the Derby was described as “Swashbuckling” (we haven’t seen that one before). He will be an outstanding stallion prospect when he does retire from racing. Mark Of Esteem’s gelding son Reverence (2001) was European Champion Sprinter in 2006 after winning the Northorpe Stakes and Sprint Cup despite suffering a broken pelvis at a young age while daughter Ameerat (1998) ($324,192 7-2-2-1) won the One Thousand Guineas. The list of Mark Of Esteem’s stakes winners is long and it is not complete yet.
Ajdal’s daughter Sun And Shade managed 4 wins before retiring to produce 7 winners including multiple stakes winner Daggers Drawn (1995) ($141,057 6-3-0-0) who is off to a great start as a young stallion in Ireland.
It would be difficult to find another Northern Dancer son who has had as much impact with such few foals as Ajdal. What a tragic loss for the sport.
Getting back to the rest of Northern Dancer’s 1984 crop, we have Rambo Dancer, winner of the Red Smith Handicap (G2) at Belmont Park. The race is named in honor of the Pulitzer Prize winning sports columnist. Rambo Dancer had a fairly successful career as a stallion that started in the U.S. before moving to England in 1990 and South Africa in 1997 where he had been a perennial top 10 sire until his death. He died after covering a mare in 2004, how appropriate. Among his best runners was Ramooz (1993) ($585,000 52-10-10-7), winner of the G3 Minstrel and Criterion Stakes. He has retired to stud in Cyprus.
Rambo Dancer’s daughter Lambent (1991) ($80,287 23-3-3-3) won in England and the U.S. finishing third in the Songstress Breeders Cup Stakes. She produced 2 stakes winners out of 3 foals. The gelding Cozy Guy (2001) ($418,104 18-7-3-3) won the Cal Cup Classic and Crystal Water Handicap at Santa Anita before being euthanized June 28, 2006 due to a myriad of illnesses (his Pedigree Online epitaph reads “Rest in Peace Cozy Guy, you were truly loved”. Lambent’s daughter Soup N Crackers (1999) ($114,373 33-9-0-1) was a three-time stakes winner.
The Dancer’s son, Alwasmi placed in several European stakes and won the G3 Lanes End John Porter Stakes. He had some modest success as a sire and broodmare sire in the U.S. and eventually West Germany. Daughter Bursting Forth (1994) ($524,474 26-10-3-4) was a multiple G3 stakes winner in the US. Alwasmi has strong Canadian connections, his Canadian bred daughter Easy Lover (1994) ($110,000 24-13-6-1) won the Premio Dorama in Chile and placed in several Chilean stakes before retiring to Japan where she is being bred to some quality stallions. Alwasmi’s daughters Oh Tee and Ivastar (1994) were both stakes winners in Canada; Ivastar won the Flaming Page Stakes. Many of Alwasmi’s daughters were producers but one in particular was Promiseville (1991), herself a stakes winner, produced Small Promises (1998) ($361,456 15-7-0-1) the Champion Older Female in Canada in 2002 and winner of the Shady Well and Algoma Stakes at Woodbine. Promiseville is also the grand dam of another Canadian stakes winner, Dancer’s Bajan (2004) through her daughter Thoughtful Deed (1996).
Sense Of Unity was another daughter of the Dancer who had some success as a broodmare. Her top runner was Family Calling (1994) ($250,297 32-7-4-7) who won the Edmond Handicap at Remington Park. He now stands at stud in West Virginia where he has already had some early success. In his first 4 crops he has produced 94 winners (3 stakes winners) of over $4,000,000 and the Champion Imported Mare of the Dominican Republic in No More Drinks (2002).
Northern Dancer had two more French stakes winners in the colt Manshood, winner of the Prix du Petit Tellier Saint-Cloud and the mare, Arctic Eclipse, winner of the Prix le Fabuleux. Neither had much of an impact in the breeding shed.
Incinderator on the other hand could only manage a second in the Feilden Stakes in England but he had a decent career as a stallion in the US. His leading money winner was the gelding Adminniestrator (1997) ($762,061 43-9-9-4) winner of the Quicken and Sunshine Million Turf Stakes. Daughter, Watch Rachel (1990) ($419,750 47-12-12-10) won the Pacific Heights Handicap among her stakes wins. Gelding son, Smoky Cinder (1994) ($389,472 57-18-10-11) won the Canadian Derby among his many stakes wins. Son, Renteria (1994) ($296,225 21-3-6-3) won the Carry Back Stakes and is off to a fairly good start to his career as a stallion producing Idaho’s Horse of The Year in Free Rent (2001) ($150,070 32-5-5-5) among his stakes winners. Incinderator’s daughter Native Wind Dancer managed to place in 4 of her 5 starts before retiring to produce among others, Summer Wind Dancer (2000) ($898,762 18-5-5-4) a multiple stakes winner in California.
The mare Yaqut produced some interesting grandchildren for the Dancer. The gelding Harik (1994) has earned in excess of 100,000 pounds with his record of 16-18-13 in 103 starts on the flat and over hurdles. Full sister to Harik, Anam (1992) has produced Annosh (2003) ($190,000 13-2-5-2) a stakes winner in Turkey and Yaqut’s son Asakir (1995) finished second in the Criterium de Saint-Cloud in France before starting his career as a stallion in Turkey.
The last member of the 1984 crop of foals we will examine is the mare Kamkova. She was lightly raced before retiring as a broodmare and producing Kirkwall (1994) ($633,356 22-8-0-2). A multiple stakes winner in France at three, he was shipped to the U.S. where he was a multiple stakes winner at five. He is standing at stud in Europe, where his first crop of foals are just starting to show some promise. Most of Kamkova’s daughters are producers but nothing of significance yet.
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Great site from Lanwades Stud featuring Sir Percy and these videos - have a look at the promo video and the Epsom Derby - swashbuckling performance by Sir Percy
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Gloria De Campeo wins Al Maktoum Challenge Rd 1
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This seven-year-old Brazilian-bred great, great, great grandson of our Dancer winning the G1 in Dubai last week is not the main story here. It was the first big race at the $2 billion Meydan Racecourse in Dubai. The official opening is scheduled for March during their International Racing Carnival featuring the Dubai World Cup. The country that now boasts the world's tallest building is about to claim the world's newest, state-of-the-art and most extravagant racecourse. To call it impressive would be an understatement. Have a look for yourself.
Video of the race
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXj2t6GbJrQ
Meydan Racecourse web page
Video of the race
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vXj2t6GbJrQ
Meydan Racecourse web page
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Picture above and article from Thoroughbred Times
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Let's not forget Yeats - perhaps the last great son of Sadler's Wells
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Yeats was ranked #25 on the world rankings for 2009 when he finally retired to stud at Coolmore at the age of eight. Some call him the greatest stayer of all time. He made my chart back in 2006 when he won his first Ascot Gold Cup. He would repeat that feat in each of the next three years to capture the hearts of many UK race fans. In addition to his record four Ascot Gold Cups he was Europe's Cartier Champion Stayer in 2006 and 2007. This photo and following article are from the telegraph. What a beautiful animal. Have a look at this video tribute as well - you can feel the emotion of Johnny Murtagh and the Yeats' connections after the fourth Ascot Gold Cup.
Article from the telegraph after Yeats' fourth straight Ascot Gold Cup
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Lines of the 1981 crop in 2010
Sadler's Wells descendants represent four of the top ten in world rankings including two direct male descendants in number 3 ranked Rip Van Winkle and number 4 ranked Fame and Glory. Number 7 ranked Conduit won back to back Breeders Cup Turfs in 2008 and 2009 and the St Leger in 2008 and is a great grandson of Sadler's Wells. Number 9 ranked Rachel Alexandra (also 2009 Eclipse Horse of the Year) is not only a descendant of Sadler's Wells, her maternal great grandmother was Wild Applause from this same 1981 crop.
Four of Sadler's Wells descendants had top three finishes in the 2009 Breeders Cup while three could be traced back to El Gran Senor. Solar City is still having an impact thanks to his grandson Cloudy's Knight. The great gelding was just nosed out of the Breeders Cup Marathon at 9 years of age after a gutsy stretch drive. As a 7 year-old Cloudy's Knight was Champion Turf Horse in Canada after winning the Canadian International.
Tributes to Rachel Alexandra
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZKfqvbgoag&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAy2zTR3Dzs&feature=related
Four of Sadler's Wells descendants had top three finishes in the 2009 Breeders Cup while three could be traced back to El Gran Senor. Solar City is still having an impact thanks to his grandson Cloudy's Knight. The great gelding was just nosed out of the Breeders Cup Marathon at 9 years of age after a gutsy stretch drive. As a 7 year-old Cloudy's Knight was Champion Turf Horse in Canada after winning the Canadian International.
Tributes to Rachel Alexandra
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZKfqvbgoag&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAy2zTR3Dzs&feature=related
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Chapter 29
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Sadler's Wells
The 1981 crop of foals provides lots of stories and perhaps the most prolific sire of the sons of Northern Dancer.
Sadler’s Wells raced entirely in Europe and retired to stud at Robert Sangster’s Coolmore Stud in Ireland but he was bred and born in the United States to Sangster’s mare Fairy Bridge out of Bold Reason. While Sadler’s Wells was the leading money winner from the 1981 crop his racing performance was overshadowed slightly by two other 1981 sons of the Dancer in El Gran Senor and Secreto. El Gran Senor was the two-year-old Champion and winner of the Two Thousand Guineas and Irish Derby. Secreto won the 1984 Epsom Derby edging out El Gran Senor. Meanwhile Sadler’s Wells had 6 wins and 4 seconds in his 11 starts winning the Irish Two Thousand Guineas, Eclipse Stakes and Phoenix Champion Stakes. He finished second in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes as well as the Prix du Jockey Club and was the French Champion miler in 1984.
After an impressive racing career Sadler’s Wells retired to stud where he became the foundation of the Coolmore breeding empire. Sadler’s Wells numbers as a sire are staggering and could fill a book on their own. Leading General Sire in Britain in 1990 and from 1992-2004 when, he was finally dethroned by Danehill. He is still going strong covering almost 200 mares per year. He has sired 895 winners (65%), 253 stakes winners (18.4%) of more than $100 million. His offspring have dominated the European classics where his strength seems to lie in middle distance and beyond on the turf but he is second to Storm Cat in all time Breeders Cup earnings ($6,982,900 38-6-2-5-2-4-3).
A chart of Sadler’s Wells’ principal runners will follow but let’s examine one of them here. Montjeu ($2,062,822 16-11-2-0) came from the 1996 crop of foals. His victories included the 1999 Irish Derby, Prix du Jockey Club, L’Arc de Triomphe and the 2000 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Tattersalls Gold Cup and Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud. He was 1999 International 3 year-old Champion and Champion European Colt and top International 4 year-old in 2000 and earned a speed rating of 137 putting him in an elite class of runners.
Montjeu now stands at Coolmore stud beside his father. Here are some of the stars coming from Montjeu’s first crop of foals in 2002 ... Hurricane Run ($4,155,280 14-8-3-1) World Champion of 2005 and winner of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe … Epsom Derby winner, Motivator ($2,152,000 7-4-2-0) and St Leger winner, Scorpion ($1,175,116 9-3-3-0).
Let’s take a look at a few of the other sons of Sadler’s Wells and how they are influencing the sport around the world. We will start with In The Wings who passed away in 2004 at the fairly young age of 16. In The Wings was ranked in the top 21 of European Sires for 7 of the past 9 years. His leading runner was the Eclipse Champion Singspiel (1992) ($5,952,825 20-9-8-0), winner of the Japan Cup, Dubai World Cup and Canadian International to name a few. Singspiel was ranked in the top 5 of young European sires with his 2nd and 3rd crops; his leading money earner so far is Asakusa Denen (1999) ($3,001,082 26-8-3-5), winner of the Yasuda Kinen in Japan.
El Prado (1989) was a top 5 sire in the USA from 2002 to 2005 and sired 20 or more stakes horses for 6 consecutive years. His leading money earner so far is Medaglia d’Ora (1999) ($5,754,720 17-8-7-0) winner of the Travers stakes and runner up in the Belmont Stakes, Dubai World Cup and the Breeders Cup Classic twice.
Galileo was the leading 2nd crop sire of Europe in 2006. Among his young superstars is the top 2 year old in the world for 2006, Teofilo (2004) ($645,596 5-5-0-0). The undefeated colt won the Dewhurst, Futurity, National and Tyros stakes. Galileo has already produced a Breeders Cup Turf winner in Red Rocks (2003) ($2,042,018 10-3-4-2), a St Leger winner in Sixties Icon (2003) ($608,158 7-3-0-1) and an Irish One Thousand Guineas winner in Nightime (2003) ($304,301 3-2-0-0). Five of Galileo’s yearlings sold for over 500,000 pounds in 2006.
Opera House is a classic sire in Japan. His son T M Opera O (1996) ($14,100,000 26-14-6-3) is now considered the world’s all-time career money earner. He won the Japan Cup in 2000 and was runner up in 2001. He also won the Tenno Sho three times (two springs and one autumn) and the 1999 Satsuki Sho (Two Thousand Guineas).
Scenic (1986) was a top ten sire in Australia on several occasions, his top two performers, Universal Prince (1997) ($2,978,291 30-7-7-3) and Blevic (1991) ($1,364,360 26-8-2-10) are now carrying on Northern Dancer’s genes through Sadler’s Wells and Scenic. Scenic died of a heart attack in 2005.
Carnegie is one of the leading young sires shuttling between Japan and Australia. King of Kings has had success shuttling between New Zealand, Australia, Japan and the USA. Victoria Dance has had success as a sire in New Zealand while Fort Wood and Braashee have been impact sires in South Africa.
As a broodmare sire, Sadler’s Wells has been at or near the top of the European list for the past decade, leading in 2006, 2005 and 2001. Here are just some of his daughters’ most notable runners. Sakhee (1997) ($3,253,253 14-8-3-1) was winner of l’Arc de Triomphe. He was out of the mare, Thawakib (1990). El Condor Pasa (1995) ($3,567,444 11-8-3-0) was Japan’s Horse of the Year in 1998 winning the Japan Cup and as a 4 year old winning the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud and runner up in l’Arc de Triomphe, he was out of the mare Sadler’s Gal (1989). Silic (1995) ($1,422,299 15-8-2-0) was the winner of the 1999 Breeders Cup Mile out of the mare Balletomane (1988). The brilliant European champion filly (twice), Divine Proportions (2002) ($1,553,790 10-9-0-0) won 5 G1 stakes in France including the Prix de Diane before suffering an injury in the Prix Jaques Le Marois as a 4 year old, her only career defeat, she finished fourth. Divine Proportions was bred to Giant’s Causeway in 2006. She was out of the mare Myth To Reality (1986) who was also the dam of 9 other winners including French G1 winner, Whipper (2001) ($1,190,292 19-6-2-2). American Post (2001) ($826,417 9-6-1-0) had 3 G1 stakes victories in his 6 wins including the Grand Criterium; he was out of the mare, Wells Fargo (1996). The list of quality broodmares produced by Sadler’s Wells goes on and on and we probably have not come close to hearing the end of that story.
Sadler’s Wells probably comes closest to all of the sons of Northern Dancer to having a similar impact on the sport as did his sire but when you couple the career of Sadler’s Wells with the likes of Danzig, Storm Cat, Nijinsky, Nureyev and the rest of his sons, there is no argument on who had the greatest impact … it was dad.
‘El Gran Senor’
El Gran Senor was the nickname of Northern Dancer’s trainer Huratio Luro, hence the name of this colt out of the mare, Sex Appeal (1970) by Buckpasser. E.P. Taylor and Robert Sangster jointly owned the mare so for the record El Gran Senor was bred by Windfields (Maryland) but raced for the partnership of Taylor, Sangster, Magnier and Vincent O’Brien with O’Brien doing the training. El Gran Senor was undefeated as a two-year-old winning the Dewhurst, National and Railway Stakes and was declared Ireland and United Kingdom Two Year Old Champion. He was also declared Champion Three Year Old the following year. He won the Two Thousand Guineas (first of the Triple Crown races) before the only loss of his career in the Epsom Derby. El Gran Senor was the odds on favorite but with a quarter mile to go he failed to accelerate in his usual fashion and lost a stretch battle by a nose to his old paddock mate (and son of Northern Dancer), Secreto (trained by Vincent O’Brien’s son, David). El Gran Senor redeemed himself in the Irish Derby showing he could go the distance of 12 furlongs. After suffering a career ending injury in 1984 he was retired to stud.
El Gran Senor had a fertility problem that prevented him from siring more than 40 foals per year. He sired less than 400 foals in his 14 crops of foals but produced 55 stakes winners for a very impressive 14% ratio. El Gran Senor was euthanized on October 18, 2006 due to old age. As a sire of sire he was not spectacular but some of his sons have had success in the breeding shed. His son Helmsman (1992) has already sired 14 stakes winners of almost $9,000,000. George Agustus (1988) was the Leading sire in Venezuela 2001, 2002 and 2003.
El Gran Senor’s biggest success came as a Broodmare sire with already over 40 stakes winners of $40,000,000. His daughter Toussaud (1989) has already foaled 4 G1 winners of $6,000,000 including Chester House (1995) ($1,944,545 21-6-4-4), winner of the Arlington Million and Empire Maker (2000) ($1,985,800 8-4-3-1) winner of the 2003 Belmont Stakes. Escrow Agent (1986) was the dam of 4 stakes winners including Florida Derby winner Vicar (1996) ($835,142 17-4-2-3). Italian Champions Le Vie Dei Colori (2000) ($781,362 15-12-2-1) and Ramonti (2002) ($900,000 9-5-2-1) are out of Senor’s daughters Mystic Tempo (1993) and Fosca (1995) respectively. Gran Premio Jockey Club (Argentina) winner Ice Point (1998) was out of daughter, Ice the Champagne (1989) and Grand Slam (1995) ($901,292 15-4-5-2) was out of Bright Candles (1987). The genes of El Gran Senor and Northern Dancer are being passed on very successfully through the daughters of the Senor from Australia (Ice Point) to South Korea (Vicar) and in the U.S. where Grand Slam has been a top 25 sire since 2003.
A list of El Gran Senor’s first generation of principal runners follows.
… the rest of the class of ‘81’
Secreto was the third in the triumvirate of Northern Dancer sons from 1981 who had an impact. Upsetting El Gran Senor in the 1984 Epsom Derby was his main claim to fame but he also won the Tetrarch Stakes in Ireland and finished 3rd in the Irish Derby, his only defeat in four starts. He was forced to retire after an injury in 2004 and never had much of an impact in the breeding shed although he did sire the Two Thousand Guineas winner from 1991, Mystiko (1988) ($311,914 9-4-2-1).
Northern Trick was another outstanding racing daughter of Northern Dancer. In just 6 starts she managed 4 wins including Le Prix de Diane and Prix Vermeille (G1s) and 2nd in Le Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and Saint-Alary (G1s). As a broodmare she was the dam of 7 winners but her most significant breeding progeny was the filly Lingerie (1988) who placed in stakes at 2 and 3. She was the dam of 7 winners including Shiva (1995 Japan) who won the 1999 Tattersalls Gold Cup defeating Daylami and was 2nd in the Dubai Champion Stakes and Limnos (1994 Japan) ($185,000 9-4-3-0) a multiple stakes winner in France before retiring to a successful career as a stallion. He was France’s leading sire of 3 year olds over jump in 2004.
The Dancer’s daughter Wild Applause had a so-so career as a runner winning the Diana Handicap (G2) and Comely Stakes (G3) but she had a great career as a broodmare. She produced 9 winners out of 10 foals including Roar (1993) ($487,507 12-4-1-4) who won the Jim Beam Stakes (G2) before retiring to what looks like a promising career as a stallion.
In 2005 Roar was the leading sire of Argentina and the leading sire of stakes winners in California for 2004 and 2005. In 6 racing crops he has produced 7 champions and 42 stakes winners of over $18,000,000. Among Roar’s progeny are two Argentinean breds, Little Jim (2000) ($472,793 14-4-2-3) and the undefeated two-year-old Forty Greeta (2001) ($169,200 4-4-0-0). Both were purchased by Sheikh Rashid bin Mohammed al Maktoum of Dubai. Little Jim was Champion 2 year old and Champion horse of Argentina winning the UAE Two Thousand Guineas. Forty Greeta was Champion 2-year old filly of Argentina before heading off to Dubai.
Wild Applause also produced the filly Yell (2000) ($598,903 17-4-3-3) a multiple stakes winner who is just launching her broodmare career and the undefeated Futurity Stakes winner Eastern Echo (1988) ($93,960 3-3-0-0). Wild Applause died giving birth to Hurrah in 2003 and even he managed to go on and win a race.
Concordene had 6 wins in 15 starts before being shipped off to India.
Lucky North raced in the UK as a 2 year old with 2 wins. He won the Hot Springs and Phoenix Handicaps back in the U.S. as a 5 year old. He stands at stud in Manitoba where he has sired 16 crops of 390 foals, 241 winners and 17 stakes winners. Some of his mares carry on the Dancer’s genes with the most significant descendant, Lady Tak (2000) ($1,160,782 19-10-4-2) out of Star Of My Eye (1990) a winner of some G1 stakes.
South Sea Dancer is an interesting story. She was a full sister to Northernette and Storm Bird and as a result set a then world record price of $1,800,000 at the 1982 Keeneland Yearling Sales. Her racing career was unspectacular, just placing in a couple of stakes. She produced 16 foals, nine of them winners but they fetched over $5,000,000 at auction. The only significant runner she produced was Signal Tap (1991) ($429,108 24-7-5-6) a G3 winner. That doesn’t sound like a spectacular broodmare career, considering the money that was involved but if you look at her next generation, things are looking up.
Signal Tap got off to a solid start to his breeding career before being shipped off to Brazil in 2005. His daughter Got Koko (1999) ($939,946 14-7-1-3), raced in California where she swept the La Canada Series before defeating Champion Azeri in the Lady’s Secret Handicap (G1). Daughter Kate Winslet (not the actress, the filly) (2001) ($249,554 24-5-2-2) was a stakes winner in Italy at two and a stakes winner in France at three.
Destiny Calls (2000) ($634,620 23-14-4-2) out of South Sea Dancer’s daughter Longue Vue (1994) was a multiple stakes winner in California where she was still winning stakes at the age of six.
South sea Dancer’s son Sijjaal (1988) only had a maiden win in 6 starts but he has had a modestly successful career as a stallion in Venezuela. Most of South Sea Dancer’s offspring are breeding despite some poor performances on the track. The thin line of Northern Dancer through South Sea Dancer may live on for quite a while.
There is nothing spectacular about Ragtime from the Dancer’s 1981 crop but she produced several mares who have gone on to produce more mares and the beat goes on. While there have been no notable descendants yet, the female lines continue.
Nordico never got to show much on the track but he went on to a decent career as a broodmare sire. He has been a regular in the top 100 of broodmare sires in Great Britain and Ireland since 2001. Two of his notable grandchildren were Imperial Dancer (1998) ($781,356 62-11-5-12) out of Gorgeous Dancer (1989), winner of the Premio Roma and Red Evie (2003) ($367,685 9-7-0-0) out of Malafemmena (1992) winner of the Matron Stakes.
Ballet De France produced 7 winners out of 10 foals including the Irish and Italian Champion Muhtarram (1989) ($858,038 20-8-3-2), winner of the Irish Champion Stakes over Opera House, the Premio Presidente della Republica and twice winner of the Prince of Wales Stakes. Muhtarram has shown some promise as a young stallion in Britain where he has already sired winners of over 300 races and $5,000,000. Ballet De France’s daughter Profit Column (1993) ($148,957 11-6-0-1) has already produced a stakes winner in Final Round (2000) ($385,512 17-5-3-5) in her young career as a broodmare.
Carnivalay deserves some mention. He broke his maiden in his last of 4 starts before retiring to be one of Maryland’s leading sires through the 90’s. Mike Pons of Country Life Farm where Carnivalay stood from 1985 to 2003 called him “ a poor man’s Danzig … Carnivalay provided a genetic bank whose offspring helped Maryland horsemen step up to the plate in a big way and have a little fun.” He sired 38 stakes winners of upwards of $30,000,000. Eighty-one percent of his foals started and 65% were winners. Josh Pons described him as “the spitting image of his daddy”. Among his top performers were Aggadan (1999) ($860,306 42-12-14-5), Valay Maid (1989) ($641,442 20-9-4-3) and Ameri Valay (1989) ($742,779 68-16-10-10). Ameri Valay is showing promise as a young stallion and could be another extension of the Dancer’s male line. Among Ameri Valay’s early success stories was the gelding Magic Weisner (1999) ($888,830 15-7-4-0), runner up in the 2002 Preakness. West Nile Virus shortened Magic Weisner’s racing career. Carnivalay died in January 2007.
Jugah did not show much on the track nor did his offspring show much in Australia with one notable exception. The gelding Juggler (1991) ($2,442,088 59-15-16-10) had a reputation as a “Giant Killer” upsetting favorites to win several graded stakes. As a broodmare sire Jugah’s daughter Bright Gleam (1993) produced Innovation Girl (1999) ($500,000 15-10-3-1).
Solar City had a mediocre career as a stallion but did produce some decent broodmares, most notably Cloudy Spot (1987) who produced 5 winners out of her 7 foals including Stormy Impact (1999) ($405,631 47-8-10-10) and Cloudy’s Knight (2000) ($317,635 24-7-5-4).
Northern Legend in Venezuela, Pink in France and Tridessus in the U.S. all sired some runners but nothing very notable in their lines to this point.
Sadler's Wells
The 1981 crop of foals provides lots of stories and perhaps the most prolific sire of the sons of Northern Dancer.
Sadler’s Wells raced entirely in Europe and retired to stud at Robert Sangster’s Coolmore Stud in Ireland but he was bred and born in the United States to Sangster’s mare Fairy Bridge out of Bold Reason. While Sadler’s Wells was the leading money winner from the 1981 crop his racing performance was overshadowed slightly by two other 1981 sons of the Dancer in El Gran Senor and Secreto. El Gran Senor was the two-year-old Champion and winner of the Two Thousand Guineas and Irish Derby. Secreto won the 1984 Epsom Derby edging out El Gran Senor. Meanwhile Sadler’s Wells had 6 wins and 4 seconds in his 11 starts winning the Irish Two Thousand Guineas, Eclipse Stakes and Phoenix Champion Stakes. He finished second in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes as well as the Prix du Jockey Club and was the French Champion miler in 1984.
After an impressive racing career Sadler’s Wells retired to stud where he became the foundation of the Coolmore breeding empire. Sadler’s Wells numbers as a sire are staggering and could fill a book on their own. Leading General Sire in Britain in 1990 and from 1992-2004 when, he was finally dethroned by Danehill. He is still going strong covering almost 200 mares per year. He has sired 895 winners (65%), 253 stakes winners (18.4%) of more than $100 million. His offspring have dominated the European classics where his strength seems to lie in middle distance and beyond on the turf but he is second to Storm Cat in all time Breeders Cup earnings ($6,982,900 38-6-2-5-2-4-3).
A chart of Sadler’s Wells’ principal runners will follow but let’s examine one of them here. Montjeu ($2,062,822 16-11-2-0) came from the 1996 crop of foals. His victories included the 1999 Irish Derby, Prix du Jockey Club, L’Arc de Triomphe and the 2000 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, Tattersalls Gold Cup and Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud. He was 1999 International 3 year-old Champion and Champion European Colt and top International 4 year-old in 2000 and earned a speed rating of 137 putting him in an elite class of runners.
Montjeu now stands at Coolmore stud beside his father. Here are some of the stars coming from Montjeu’s first crop of foals in 2002 ... Hurricane Run ($4,155,280 14-8-3-1) World Champion of 2005 and winner of the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe … Epsom Derby winner, Motivator ($2,152,000 7-4-2-0) and St Leger winner, Scorpion ($1,175,116 9-3-3-0).
Let’s take a look at a few of the other sons of Sadler’s Wells and how they are influencing the sport around the world. We will start with In The Wings who passed away in 2004 at the fairly young age of 16. In The Wings was ranked in the top 21 of European Sires for 7 of the past 9 years. His leading runner was the Eclipse Champion Singspiel (1992) ($5,952,825 20-9-8-0), winner of the Japan Cup, Dubai World Cup and Canadian International to name a few. Singspiel was ranked in the top 5 of young European sires with his 2nd and 3rd crops; his leading money earner so far is Asakusa Denen (1999) ($3,001,082 26-8-3-5), winner of the Yasuda Kinen in Japan.
El Prado (1989) was a top 5 sire in the USA from 2002 to 2005 and sired 20 or more stakes horses for 6 consecutive years. His leading money earner so far is Medaglia d’Ora (1999) ($5,754,720 17-8-7-0) winner of the Travers stakes and runner up in the Belmont Stakes, Dubai World Cup and the Breeders Cup Classic twice.
Galileo was the leading 2nd crop sire of Europe in 2006. Among his young superstars is the top 2 year old in the world for 2006, Teofilo (2004) ($645,596 5-5-0-0). The undefeated colt won the Dewhurst, Futurity, National and Tyros stakes. Galileo has already produced a Breeders Cup Turf winner in Red Rocks (2003) ($2,042,018 10-3-4-2), a St Leger winner in Sixties Icon (2003) ($608,158 7-3-0-1) and an Irish One Thousand Guineas winner in Nightime (2003) ($304,301 3-2-0-0). Five of Galileo’s yearlings sold for over 500,000 pounds in 2006.
Opera House is a classic sire in Japan. His son T M Opera O (1996) ($14,100,000 26-14-6-3) is now considered the world’s all-time career money earner. He won the Japan Cup in 2000 and was runner up in 2001. He also won the Tenno Sho three times (two springs and one autumn) and the 1999 Satsuki Sho (Two Thousand Guineas).
Scenic (1986) was a top ten sire in Australia on several occasions, his top two performers, Universal Prince (1997) ($2,978,291 30-7-7-3) and Blevic (1991) ($1,364,360 26-8-2-10) are now carrying on Northern Dancer’s genes through Sadler’s Wells and Scenic. Scenic died of a heart attack in 2005.
Carnegie is one of the leading young sires shuttling between Japan and Australia. King of Kings has had success shuttling between New Zealand, Australia, Japan and the USA. Victoria Dance has had success as a sire in New Zealand while Fort Wood and Braashee have been impact sires in South Africa.
As a broodmare sire, Sadler’s Wells has been at or near the top of the European list for the past decade, leading in 2006, 2005 and 2001. Here are just some of his daughters’ most notable runners. Sakhee (1997) ($3,253,253 14-8-3-1) was winner of l’Arc de Triomphe. He was out of the mare, Thawakib (1990). El Condor Pasa (1995) ($3,567,444 11-8-3-0) was Japan’s Horse of the Year in 1998 winning the Japan Cup and as a 4 year old winning the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud and runner up in l’Arc de Triomphe, he was out of the mare Sadler’s Gal (1989). Silic (1995) ($1,422,299 15-8-2-0) was the winner of the 1999 Breeders Cup Mile out of the mare Balletomane (1988). The brilliant European champion filly (twice), Divine Proportions (2002) ($1,553,790 10-9-0-0) won 5 G1 stakes in France including the Prix de Diane before suffering an injury in the Prix Jaques Le Marois as a 4 year old, her only career defeat, she finished fourth. Divine Proportions was bred to Giant’s Causeway in 2006. She was out of the mare Myth To Reality (1986) who was also the dam of 9 other winners including French G1 winner, Whipper (2001) ($1,190,292 19-6-2-2). American Post (2001) ($826,417 9-6-1-0) had 3 G1 stakes victories in his 6 wins including the Grand Criterium; he was out of the mare, Wells Fargo (1996). The list of quality broodmares produced by Sadler’s Wells goes on and on and we probably have not come close to hearing the end of that story.
Sadler’s Wells probably comes closest to all of the sons of Northern Dancer to having a similar impact on the sport as did his sire but when you couple the career of Sadler’s Wells with the likes of Danzig, Storm Cat, Nijinsky, Nureyev and the rest of his sons, there is no argument on who had the greatest impact … it was dad.
‘El Gran Senor’
El Gran Senor was the nickname of Northern Dancer’s trainer Huratio Luro, hence the name of this colt out of the mare, Sex Appeal (1970) by Buckpasser. E.P. Taylor and Robert Sangster jointly owned the mare so for the record El Gran Senor was bred by Windfields (Maryland) but raced for the partnership of Taylor, Sangster, Magnier and Vincent O’Brien with O’Brien doing the training. El Gran Senor was undefeated as a two-year-old winning the Dewhurst, National and Railway Stakes and was declared Ireland and United Kingdom Two Year Old Champion. He was also declared Champion Three Year Old the following year. He won the Two Thousand Guineas (first of the Triple Crown races) before the only loss of his career in the Epsom Derby. El Gran Senor was the odds on favorite but with a quarter mile to go he failed to accelerate in his usual fashion and lost a stretch battle by a nose to his old paddock mate (and son of Northern Dancer), Secreto (trained by Vincent O’Brien’s son, David). El Gran Senor redeemed himself in the Irish Derby showing he could go the distance of 12 furlongs. After suffering a career ending injury in 1984 he was retired to stud.
El Gran Senor had a fertility problem that prevented him from siring more than 40 foals per year. He sired less than 400 foals in his 14 crops of foals but produced 55 stakes winners for a very impressive 14% ratio. El Gran Senor was euthanized on October 18, 2006 due to old age. As a sire of sire he was not spectacular but some of his sons have had success in the breeding shed. His son Helmsman (1992) has already sired 14 stakes winners of almost $9,000,000. George Agustus (1988) was the Leading sire in Venezuela 2001, 2002 and 2003.
El Gran Senor’s biggest success came as a Broodmare sire with already over 40 stakes winners of $40,000,000. His daughter Toussaud (1989) has already foaled 4 G1 winners of $6,000,000 including Chester House (1995) ($1,944,545 21-6-4-4), winner of the Arlington Million and Empire Maker (2000) ($1,985,800 8-4-3-1) winner of the 2003 Belmont Stakes. Escrow Agent (1986) was the dam of 4 stakes winners including Florida Derby winner Vicar (1996) ($835,142 17-4-2-3). Italian Champions Le Vie Dei Colori (2000) ($781,362 15-12-2-1) and Ramonti (2002) ($900,000 9-5-2-1) are out of Senor’s daughters Mystic Tempo (1993) and Fosca (1995) respectively. Gran Premio Jockey Club (Argentina) winner Ice Point (1998) was out of daughter, Ice the Champagne (1989) and Grand Slam (1995) ($901,292 15-4-5-2) was out of Bright Candles (1987). The genes of El Gran Senor and Northern Dancer are being passed on very successfully through the daughters of the Senor from Australia (Ice Point) to South Korea (Vicar) and in the U.S. where Grand Slam has been a top 25 sire since 2003.
A list of El Gran Senor’s first generation of principal runners follows.
… the rest of the class of ‘81’
Secreto was the third in the triumvirate of Northern Dancer sons from 1981 who had an impact. Upsetting El Gran Senor in the 1984 Epsom Derby was his main claim to fame but he also won the Tetrarch Stakes in Ireland and finished 3rd in the Irish Derby, his only defeat in four starts. He was forced to retire after an injury in 2004 and never had much of an impact in the breeding shed although he did sire the Two Thousand Guineas winner from 1991, Mystiko (1988) ($311,914 9-4-2-1).
Northern Trick was another outstanding racing daughter of Northern Dancer. In just 6 starts she managed 4 wins including Le Prix de Diane and Prix Vermeille (G1s) and 2nd in Le Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe and Saint-Alary (G1s). As a broodmare she was the dam of 7 winners but her most significant breeding progeny was the filly Lingerie (1988) who placed in stakes at 2 and 3. She was the dam of 7 winners including Shiva (1995 Japan) who won the 1999 Tattersalls Gold Cup defeating Daylami and was 2nd in the Dubai Champion Stakes and Limnos (1994 Japan) ($185,000 9-4-3-0) a multiple stakes winner in France before retiring to a successful career as a stallion. He was France’s leading sire of 3 year olds over jump in 2004.
The Dancer’s daughter Wild Applause had a so-so career as a runner winning the Diana Handicap (G2) and Comely Stakes (G3) but she had a great career as a broodmare. She produced 9 winners out of 10 foals including Roar (1993) ($487,507 12-4-1-4) who won the Jim Beam Stakes (G2) before retiring to what looks like a promising career as a stallion.
In 2005 Roar was the leading sire of Argentina and the leading sire of stakes winners in California for 2004 and 2005. In 6 racing crops he has produced 7 champions and 42 stakes winners of over $18,000,000. Among Roar’s progeny are two Argentinean breds, Little Jim (2000) ($472,793 14-4-2-3) and the undefeated two-year-old Forty Greeta (2001) ($169,200 4-4-0-0). Both were purchased by Sheikh Rashid bin Mohammed al Maktoum of Dubai. Little Jim was Champion 2 year old and Champion horse of Argentina winning the UAE Two Thousand Guineas. Forty Greeta was Champion 2-year old filly of Argentina before heading off to Dubai.
Wild Applause also produced the filly Yell (2000) ($598,903 17-4-3-3) a multiple stakes winner who is just launching her broodmare career and the undefeated Futurity Stakes winner Eastern Echo (1988) ($93,960 3-3-0-0). Wild Applause died giving birth to Hurrah in 2003 and even he managed to go on and win a race.
Concordene had 6 wins in 15 starts before being shipped off to India.
Lucky North raced in the UK as a 2 year old with 2 wins. He won the Hot Springs and Phoenix Handicaps back in the U.S. as a 5 year old. He stands at stud in Manitoba where he has sired 16 crops of 390 foals, 241 winners and 17 stakes winners. Some of his mares carry on the Dancer’s genes with the most significant descendant, Lady Tak (2000) ($1,160,782 19-10-4-2) out of Star Of My Eye (1990) a winner of some G1 stakes.
South Sea Dancer is an interesting story. She was a full sister to Northernette and Storm Bird and as a result set a then world record price of $1,800,000 at the 1982 Keeneland Yearling Sales. Her racing career was unspectacular, just placing in a couple of stakes. She produced 16 foals, nine of them winners but they fetched over $5,000,000 at auction. The only significant runner she produced was Signal Tap (1991) ($429,108 24-7-5-6) a G3 winner. That doesn’t sound like a spectacular broodmare career, considering the money that was involved but if you look at her next generation, things are looking up.
Signal Tap got off to a solid start to his breeding career before being shipped off to Brazil in 2005. His daughter Got Koko (1999) ($939,946 14-7-1-3), raced in California where she swept the La Canada Series before defeating Champion Azeri in the Lady’s Secret Handicap (G1). Daughter Kate Winslet (not the actress, the filly) (2001) ($249,554 24-5-2-2) was a stakes winner in Italy at two and a stakes winner in France at three.
Destiny Calls (2000) ($634,620 23-14-4-2) out of South Sea Dancer’s daughter Longue Vue (1994) was a multiple stakes winner in California where she was still winning stakes at the age of six.
South sea Dancer’s son Sijjaal (1988) only had a maiden win in 6 starts but he has had a modestly successful career as a stallion in Venezuela. Most of South Sea Dancer’s offspring are breeding despite some poor performances on the track. The thin line of Northern Dancer through South Sea Dancer may live on for quite a while.
There is nothing spectacular about Ragtime from the Dancer’s 1981 crop but she produced several mares who have gone on to produce more mares and the beat goes on. While there have been no notable descendants yet, the female lines continue.
Nordico never got to show much on the track but he went on to a decent career as a broodmare sire. He has been a regular in the top 100 of broodmare sires in Great Britain and Ireland since 2001. Two of his notable grandchildren were Imperial Dancer (1998) ($781,356 62-11-5-12) out of Gorgeous Dancer (1989), winner of the Premio Roma and Red Evie (2003) ($367,685 9-7-0-0) out of Malafemmena (1992) winner of the Matron Stakes.
Ballet De France produced 7 winners out of 10 foals including the Irish and Italian Champion Muhtarram (1989) ($858,038 20-8-3-2), winner of the Irish Champion Stakes over Opera House, the Premio Presidente della Republica and twice winner of the Prince of Wales Stakes. Muhtarram has shown some promise as a young stallion in Britain where he has already sired winners of over 300 races and $5,000,000. Ballet De France’s daughter Profit Column (1993) ($148,957 11-6-0-1) has already produced a stakes winner in Final Round (2000) ($385,512 17-5-3-5) in her young career as a broodmare.
Carnivalay deserves some mention. He broke his maiden in his last of 4 starts before retiring to be one of Maryland’s leading sires through the 90’s. Mike Pons of Country Life Farm where Carnivalay stood from 1985 to 2003 called him “ a poor man’s Danzig … Carnivalay provided a genetic bank whose offspring helped Maryland horsemen step up to the plate in a big way and have a little fun.” He sired 38 stakes winners of upwards of $30,000,000. Eighty-one percent of his foals started and 65% were winners. Josh Pons described him as “the spitting image of his daddy”. Among his top performers were Aggadan (1999) ($860,306 42-12-14-5), Valay Maid (1989) ($641,442 20-9-4-3) and Ameri Valay (1989) ($742,779 68-16-10-10). Ameri Valay is showing promise as a young stallion and could be another extension of the Dancer’s male line. Among Ameri Valay’s early success stories was the gelding Magic Weisner (1999) ($888,830 15-7-4-0), runner up in the 2002 Preakness. West Nile Virus shortened Magic Weisner’s racing career. Carnivalay died in January 2007.
Jugah did not show much on the track nor did his offspring show much in Australia with one notable exception. The gelding Juggler (1991) ($2,442,088 59-15-16-10) had a reputation as a “Giant Killer” upsetting favorites to win several graded stakes. As a broodmare sire Jugah’s daughter Bright Gleam (1993) produced Innovation Girl (1999) ($500,000 15-10-3-1).
Solar City had a mediocre career as a stallion but did produce some decent broodmares, most notably Cloudy Spot (1987) who produced 5 winners out of her 7 foals including Stormy Impact (1999) ($405,631 47-8-10-10) and Cloudy’s Knight (2000) ($317,635 24-7-5-4).
Northern Legend in Venezuela, Pink in France and Tridessus in the U.S. all sired some runners but nothing very notable in their lines to this point.
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Sadler's Wells winning 2000 Guineas in 1984 over Secreto
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Sadler's Wells winning Phoenix Champion Stakes in 1984
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Danzig and Nureyev Lines in 2009
These two continue to have an influence on the elite of the sport in 2009. Danzig lines contributed to seven of the top 3 finishers in the Breeders Cup while Nureyev contributed four.
In the world rankings there are 4 direct male descendants of Danzig in the top 10 males in the world including number one ranked Sea The Stars. The number one ranked female (second overall) Goldikova is a also great-granddaughter of Danzig. Nureyev has two descendants in the top 13 in the world rankings including number 3 ranked Rip Van Winkle and a direct male descendant in Presious Passion.
In the world rankings there are 4 direct male descendants of Danzig in the top 10 males in the world including number one ranked Sea The Stars. The number one ranked female (second overall) Goldikova is a also great-granddaughter of Danzig. Nureyev has two descendants in the top 13 in the world rankings including number 3 ranked Rip Van Winkle and a direct male descendant in Presious Passion.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Chapter 25
Danzig and Nureyev (What a one-two punch)
The 1977 crop of Northern Dancer foals have probably done more to carry on the Dancer’s line than any other crop. The 1977 crop featured two of the best sires Northern Dancer would produce in Danzig and Nuryev.
Danzig was undefeated as a runner but he only raced three times before a chronic knee injury ended his racing career. Danzig was bred in Pennsylvania by William S. Farish, of Marshall Jenney’s Derry Meeting Farm before being sold at the Saratoga Yearling Sales to Henryk de Kwiatkowski for $310,000. Henryk (de Kwiatkowski) was a Polish immigrant who made his fortune buying and selling used airplanes. Woody Stephens would train Danzig for his brief racing career and be instrumental in convincing Kwiatkowski that this horse was something special and worth a shot as a stallion despite his resume missing any big stakes wins. Woody was right and by 1985 Danzig’s stud fees had risen to $250,000.
Danzig was euthanized on Jan 3,2006 at Claiborne Farm near Paris Kentucky where he was suffering from the infirmities of old age. He was 29 years old. Danzig is buried at Claiborne where he stood for his entire career as a stallion. Danzig sired 23 crops of more than 1,000 foals and is second all time to Dancer’s other son Nureyev in percentage of stakes winners. Danzig stands third in number of stakes winners behind his own son Danehill (1986) who died before his sire after a fluke paddock accident in 2003 and another Northern Dancer son Sadler’s Wells. Danzig led the American Sires List three years in a row from 1991-1993, it was only the third time in the past 100 years a horse had led the sires list three years in a row. He also led the Sires list in the United Arab Emirates and Spain. Danzig produced 4 Breeders Cup winners including Canada’s 1991 champion and Triple Crown winner Dance Smartly. He was also the grandsire of another Canadian Triple Crown winner in Wando through his Sovereign Award winning son Langfuhr. Danzig’s runners won over $100 million including a Preakness Stakes (Pine Bluff) and Belmont (Danzig Connection). A grandson, Sea Hero out of another son Polish Navy won the 1993 Kentucky Derby.
Danzig was also a leading broodmare sire and amongst his daughters was Angel Fever, dam of Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus.
Danzig’s last crop of foals (approximately 30), are just two year olds so his immediate legacy to the sport is still a work in progress but his grandchildren are already making as much noise as their grandfather and great grandfather in the breeding shed.
The accomplishments of Danzig’s sons and daughters could fill another book, as could the accomplishments of his grandchildren through Danehill alone. Danehill was the first sire to top 300 stakes winners despite dying in the prime of his breeding life at the age of 17. Both Northern Dancer and Danzig produced crops of foals past the age of 25 (to put Danehill’s record in perspective).
Danehill was shuttled between Australia and Ireland for Coolmore. He led the Australian Sires List for 11 years since 1993/1994 and when he finally was unseated it was by one of his sons, Redoute’s Choice in 2005/2006 who appears to be the heir apparent. Danehill finally ended Sadler’s Wells streak at 14 claiming Britain’s Leading Sire status in 2005. Danehill finished 5th on the Australian leading general sires list in 2005/2006 where he was joined by 4 of his sons who finished in the top 8. In addition to the leader Redoute’s Choice (1996), there was Desert King (1994) in 4th, Flying Spur (1992) in 6th, Commands (1996) in 7th and Lion Hunter (1992) in 8th.
I have tried to describe the incredible Makybe Diva, three-time Melbourne Cup winner who was a granddaughter of Danehill through his son Desert King. While she was about to capture the hearts of a Nation (Australia), another horse, a 7-year old gelding son of Danehill, Fairy King Prawn was being inducted into Hong Kong’s Racing Hall of Fame. He was the “peoples horse” as he paraded in front of his thousands of fans at Sha Tin Racecourse in February 2003. He gave the people of Hong Kong a great deal of excitement and pride culminating in his victory in the Yasuda Kinen in Japan. He followed that victory with one more convincing win in Hong Kong’s National Day Cup before being retired to the tribute at Sha Tin. His owner, Philip Lau Sakhong said, “He could have raced again but … he is a champion horse and that’s how we want to remember him”. Trainer Ivan Allan said, “ I was lucky to get him. He was a real racehorse and a trainer’s dream … I will never forget him” (sound familiar). While Fairy King Prawn was not the first horse in the Hong Kong Racing Hall of Fame he was the first to achieve International recognition for Hong Kong racing. In addition to the Yasuda Kinen win he also had a 2nd place finish in the Dubai Duty Free and was instrumental in putting Hong Kong Racing on the map.
The following charts list some of the top runners of Danzig and Danehill. There are just too many outstanding performers to list in any other way and this is still a work in progress for both sires. This could be the strongest branch of Northern Dancer’s line.
Claiborne Farms in Kentucky bred Nureyev. Nureyev’s dam Special (1969) had already produced an Irish Champion two year old filly in Fairy Bridge (1975) from her royal genes that traced back to the great mare Rough Shod (1944). Nureyev was expected to bring a healthy price at the July Keeneland yearling sales but no one expected the final price of $1,300,000 paid by Greek shipping magnate Stavros Niarchos. Nureyev was sent to Europe for training where he won his only start as a two year old in the Prix Thomas Byron by six lengths. As a three year old he won his next start in the Prix Djebel before being shipped to England for the Two Thousand Guineas. Nureyev blasted his way through a wall of horses to win the Two Thousand Guineas but for the first time in the long history of the race, he was disqualified and placed last. The Epsom Derby was next on Nureyev’s schedule but a virus kept him out of that race and he would never race again. He was still declared French Champion three year old that year.
Nureyev started his career as a stallion in France before being syndicated for $14,000,000 and sent to Walmac-Warnerton Farm in Kentucky. Walmac-Warnerton would eventually split and Nureyev spent the rest of his days at Walmac International in Lexington Kentucky where he is buried today. John T. L. Jones Jr., the president of Walmac described Nureyev as “a very courageous horse”. He had fertility problems throughout his career as a stallion and almost died after an accident during the 1987 breeding season. A fracture in his right hind leg required surgery and complications left him with just a 10% chance of survival. Not only did he survive but he thrived producing another 15 crops of foals until he death Oct 29,2001 from a cancerous tumor in his right hind hoof. Jones said, “This time, there wasn’t anything we could do for him. Like great friends and great people you know, you’re going to miss them.”
Nureyev sired 135 stakes winners (17% of his foals) with over 20 of those Champions and has almost 100 active sons at stud who have produced over 16,000 foals (71% of those starters). Son Theatrical came from his first full crop in 1982. Theatrical won the 1987 Breeders Cup Turf, to cap off a long and illustrious career as Irish and American Champion. Theatrical is one of the top turf stallions in the world today with over 50 stakes winners to his credit including the three-time Japanese Champion Mare, Hishi Amazon (1991) ($6,981,902 20-10-5-0) and Melbourne Cup winner Media Puzzle (1997) ($2,592,706 20-6-1-6) who was put down after shattering a leg at the finish line of the 2006 Ascot Cup. Media Puzzle was another one of those horses who was an emotional magnet. When he won the Melbourne Cup in 2002 there was barely a dry eye in the house as jockey Damien Oliver saluted the heavens crossing the finish line (his brother and fellow jockey Jason died a week earlier after a spill on the track). When Media Puzzle went down at Ascot it was in front of a huge crowd that included members of the royal family. Trainer Dermot Weld said after Media Puzzle was put down “He was a wonderful servant. He overcame chronic tendon problems in the past. This was very different and sadly he is gone.”
The year Theatrical won the Breeders Cup Turf; Nureyev’s amazing daughter Miesque (1984) ($2,096,517 16-12-3-1) won her first of two back-to-back Breeders Cup Miles in record time. Miesque was a Champion mare in America, England and France over her stellar racing career and as a broodmare has already produced a Champion in the mare East of the Moon (1991) ($790,844 8-4-2-0) and an outstanding young stallion in Kingmambo (1990) ($734,804 13-5-4-2-) who has already produced many Champions and millionaires. East of the Moon died in 2006 after being struck by lightning. She had already produced 3 stakes winners.
Nureyev’s son Spinning World (1993) ($1,734,477 14-8-3-1) was a champion in France and Ireland and won the 1997 Breeders Cup Mile. Peintre Celebre (1994) ($1,496,000 7-5-1-1) was French Champion three year old winning the 1997 Arc de Triomphe in record time. Nureyev’s other principal runners (too many to list here) are listed on the following chart.
The rest of the 1977 crop of Northern Dancer’s foals were so overshadowed by the breeding success of Danzig and Nureyev that they hardly seem worth mentioning but there were some success stories. Swift Bird was a dependable race mare, placing in several stakes but most of her wins were ungraded and she had no successful offspring. Norwegian had modest success in Brazil and Venezuela as a stallion. Disconiz, Stephanie Leigh, Gold Treasure, Katsura and Tiddleypom were all successful broodmares producing several generations of winners and stakes winners. The sons Magesterial, Voodoo Rhythm, North Pole, Kick and Northern Horizon all had varying degrees of success as stallions.
Northern Dancer’s 1977 crop of foals provided a one-two punch of classic stallions in Danzig and Nureyev who have in turn provided a three-four punch in classic stallions with Danehill and Theatrical among many others who will ensure the Dancer’s bloodlines survive well into the 21st century. It’s exciting times for the Dancer offspring but there is plenty of excitement left.
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Danzig - what might have been video (3 for 3 starts)
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Nureyev winning 2000 Guineas before being DQ'd
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Leading Sire Danzig dead at 29 - article from BloodHorse
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Great article from DRF and Matt Hegarty on Danzig from NBC site
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Nureyev Obituary from the BloodHorse - David Schmitz
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Saving Nureyev in 1987 by Kimberly Brown - the BloodHorse
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Danehill Article from Max Presnell
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Article on Danehill's death from the Age
The 1969 crop's descendants in 2009
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Four of the top finishers in this year's Breeders Cup trace back to Lyphard (all through female lines) including the number 2 world ranked mare Goldikova.
Tiznow is sitting in fourth spot on the US General Sires List with over $9,000,000 in winnings so far in 2009.
Invasor's first crop of foals was just born in 2009. We will have to wait a while to see how he does as a stallion.
Four of the top finishers in this year's Breeders Cup trace back to Lyphard (all through female lines) including the number 2 world ranked mare Goldikova.
Tiznow is sitting in fourth spot on the US General Sires List with over $9,000,000 in winnings so far in 2009.
Invasor's first crop of foals was just born in 2009. We will have to wait a while to see how he does as a stallion.
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Chapter 14
Lyphard and a South American Hero
... Invasor
Invasor (from drf.com)
(as always click on charts to enlarge them)
Lyphard was considered by many to be the first “great” sire of Northern Dancer’s sons and in similar fashion to the Dancer he was passed over as a yearling by of all people, Vincent O’Brien. O’Brien thought the colt was too small. He was the “spitting image” of his sire. Lyphard won a handful of significant stake races in France before retiring to stud in 1973.
Lyphard was the Leading sire in North America in 1986, the Leading Sire in France in 1978, 1979 and the Leading Broodmare Sire in France in 1985,1986. He sired 9 Champions in his 115 stakes winners (or14% of his 800 plus foals). Here is a brief summary of some of Lyphard’s best runners. The Champion Grass Horse, Manila (1983) ($2,692,799 18-12-5-0) who won the Breeders Cup Turf and Arlington Million. England’s Champion Three-Year-Old, Dancing Brave (1983) ($1,776,723 10-8-1-0) won the Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe. The filly, Three Troikas (1976) (3,540,000 francs) was Champion Horse of the Year in France and also won the Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe. Rainbows For Life (1988) ($1,105,926 36-15-7-7) was Champion Two-Year-Old, Champion Older Horse and Champion Grass horse in Canada, winning the Coronation Futurity and Cup and Saucer amongst his stakes victories. Rainbows For Life was also the Champion Sire of the Czech Republic in 1999, 2004 and 2005.
Lyphard was the broodmare sire of 11 Champions and 205 stakes winners. Here is a brief summary of some of those champion grand children and their dams out of Lyphard. The filly Hatoof (1989) ($1,841,063 21-9-4-1) was the Eclipse Champion Turf Mare counting The Thousand Guineas, The Beverly D and the E.P. Taylor Stakes amongst her wins. She was the daughter of Cadeaux D’Amie (1984) who was also the dam of Irish Prize (1996) ($1,242,380 27-10-4-2). Tight Spot (1987) ($1,556,500 21-12-3-1) was the Champion Grass Horse winning the Arlington Million. Tight Spot was out of the dam Premium Win (1981) who was also the dam of Valiant Nature (1991) ($466,500 8-2-1-3).
Perhaps the most significant broodmare from Lyphard was Bubble Company (1977). She was the dam of Bubble Gum Fellow (1993) (554,430,000 yen 13-7-2-3), Champion Two-Year-Old Colt in Japan, winning several stake races and finishing third in the Japan Cup. She was also the dam of Intimiste (1987) ($256,628) and Air Notorious (1995) but her most famous son was the lightly raced Candy Stripes (1982) ($41,738 6-2-1-0).
Candy Stripes was out of Blushing Groom (1974), bred in Kentucky by Allen Cowen, he raced in France winning two of his six starts and finishing second in the Poule d’Essaie des Poulains. He returned to the U.S. for stallion duty before being shipped off
to Argentina in 1988 where he became an International star as a stallion and Argentina’s leading sire twice. From 1,010 foals of racing age, he has produced 465 winners and 59 stakes winners of almost $30,000,000 and ten Champions in Argentina, Canada, United States and South Africa. Two of his most famous sons are Leroidesanimaux (2000) ($1,658,377 13-9-2-0), Champion Turf Male and winner of 8 consecutive races including the Frank E Kilroe Mile, Atto Mile and Citation Handicap and the very special Invasor (2002) ($4,204,070 11-10-0-0).
The story of Invasor sends shivers down my spine and has some interesting similarities to the story of his great, great grandfather (our Dancer). Invasor was bred in Argentina by Haras Clausan. He is described as a black-pointed bay with a small white star. He was bought as a two year old by two brothers and a friend from Uruguay. Jaun Luis and Luis Alberto Vio Bado along with Pablo Hernandez flew to Argentina to see some horses. When a smaller plane had engine failure they were forced to visit some local farms near Buenos Aires by car. Eighty colts and fillies later they were “hit with Cupid’s arrow” when they saw Invasor. The asking price was $25,000 (sound familiar) but they were able to negotiate that down to $20,000 before they closed the deal and shipped him home to Uruguay. Invasor won his maiden race by over 6 lengths in February 2005 but fractured his right hind sesamoid bone and needed surgery. He reappeared in August 2005 to win the Ensayo stakes by over 7 lengths. What Invasor accomplished after that was truly incredible. He won the first leg of Uruguay’s Triple Crown, the Gran Premio Polla de Potrillos in September 2005 by almost 6 lengths. In October he won the second leg, the Gran Premio Jockey Club by over 3 lengths before completing the Triple Crown with a 6-length victory in the Gran Premio Nacional.
It was at that point Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum made the brothers and Pablo an offer they couldn’t refuse … $1,400,000. Invasor had only won the equivalent of $113,866 in winning the Uruguay Triple Crown. Invasor was on his way to Dubai via Florida for some training. His next start in the UAE Derby was Invasor’s only loss in his career. He was caught in traffic but still managed a respectable fourth only a half-length out of second but well behind the winner, Discreet Cat. Invasor went back to the U.S. where he won his next three starts, the Pimlico Special, Suburban and Whitney Handicaps. He developed a fever that took him out of the Jockey Club Gold Cup but his next start would be the Breeders Cup Classic.
Invasor had become a National hero in Uruguay, despite being sold to the Sheikh and racing in the U.S. he had a following that ranked him with Uruguay’s National soccer team. The simulcast locations in Uruguay are packed whenever Invasor is racing. On November 4, 2006 Invasor sent the Uruguayans into a frenzy upsetting Bernardini, Lava Man and European Champion George Washington to win the Breeders Cup Classic with 18-year-old jockey Fernando Jara in the irons. Invasor was named the Eclipse Horse of the Year for 2006. From those humble beginnings in Argentina, Invasor had risen to the pinnacle of his sport, carrying the weight of three Nations on his back. Invasor has already won his first start in 2007 and may never see Uruguay or Argentina again. It will be fun to watch his career as a stallion unfold. Leroisdesanimaux is already standing at stud at Stonewall Farm in Kentucky.
Candy Stripes died Feb 28, 2007 at Haras Carampagne in San Antonio de Areco, Argentina because of colic; his dam Bubble Company passed away May 24, 1996. This chapter in Northern dancer’s history is a long way from over.
Lyphard’s foals were spread over 23 crops from 1974 to 1996. He lived to the ripe old age of 36 and was euthanized June 10, 2005. Lyphard’s most successful sons to carry on his and the Dancer’s line were Lypheor (1975), Bellypha (1976), Lyphard’s Wish (1976) and Pharly (1974)
Lypheor only produced 8 crops, he had to be euthanized in 1985 at the young age of eleven but in that short span he was one of the leading sires in Japan with 3 Champions and 24 stakes winners. Lypheor was the sire of broodmares who produced 20 stakes winners.
Bellypha sired many stakes winners but the one who is most responsible for carrying on his and the Dancer’s male line is the French bred Mendez (1981) who is the sire of Linamix (1987) (543,705 pounds 10-4-4-0), the beautiful gray French bred who was the Leading Sire in France 1998 and 2004. Linamix has sired 20 winners of more than 200,000 British pounds already since his first crop in 1992 and 18 of those 20 are males. The future of this branch of the Dancer’s male line looks very safe. Lyphard’s Wish on the other hand produced several good runners but it seems to be the mares who had the most success in the breeding shed.
Pharly had a short but outstanding racing career (1,547,500 francs 13-5-5-1) winning 3 Grade 1 stakes in France. Pharly fractured his pelvis and was euthanized in 2002 after siring 44 stakes winners in 22 crops of foals.
The above chart summarizes Lyphard’s principal runners.
Lyphard was the Leading sire in North America in 1986, the Leading Sire in France in 1978, 1979 and the Leading Broodmare Sire in France in 1985,1986. He sired 9 Champions in his 115 stakes winners (or14% of his 800 plus foals). Here is a brief summary of some of Lyphard’s best runners. The Champion Grass Horse, Manila (1983) ($2,692,799 18-12-5-0) who won the Breeders Cup Turf and Arlington Million. England’s Champion Three-Year-Old, Dancing Brave (1983) ($1,776,723 10-8-1-0) won the Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe. The filly, Three Troikas (1976) (3,540,000 francs) was Champion Horse of the Year in France and also won the Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe. Rainbows For Life (1988) ($1,105,926 36-15-7-7) was Champion Two-Year-Old, Champion Older Horse and Champion Grass horse in Canada, winning the Coronation Futurity and Cup and Saucer amongst his stakes victories. Rainbows For Life was also the Champion Sire of the Czech Republic in 1999, 2004 and 2005.
Lyphard was the broodmare sire of 11 Champions and 205 stakes winners. Here is a brief summary of some of those champion grand children and their dams out of Lyphard. The filly Hatoof (1989) ($1,841,063 21-9-4-1) was the Eclipse Champion Turf Mare counting The Thousand Guineas, The Beverly D and the E.P. Taylor Stakes amongst her wins. She was the daughter of Cadeaux D’Amie (1984) who was also the dam of Irish Prize (1996) ($1,242,380 27-10-4-2). Tight Spot (1987) ($1,556,500 21-12-3-1) was the Champion Grass Horse winning the Arlington Million. Tight Spot was out of the dam Premium Win (1981) who was also the dam of Valiant Nature (1991) ($466,500 8-2-1-3).
Perhaps the most significant broodmare from Lyphard was Bubble Company (1977). She was the dam of Bubble Gum Fellow (1993) (554,430,000 yen 13-7-2-3), Champion Two-Year-Old Colt in Japan, winning several stake races and finishing third in the Japan Cup. She was also the dam of Intimiste (1987) ($256,628) and Air Notorious (1995) but her most famous son was the lightly raced Candy Stripes (1982) ($41,738 6-2-1-0).
Candy Stripes was out of Blushing Groom (1974), bred in Kentucky by Allen Cowen, he raced in France winning two of his six starts and finishing second in the Poule d’Essaie des Poulains. He returned to the U.S. for stallion duty before being shipped off
to Argentina in 1988 where he became an International star as a stallion and Argentina’s leading sire twice. From 1,010 foals of racing age, he has produced 465 winners and 59 stakes winners of almost $30,000,000 and ten Champions in Argentina, Canada, United States and South Africa. Two of his most famous sons are Leroidesanimaux (2000) ($1,658,377 13-9-2-0), Champion Turf Male and winner of 8 consecutive races including the Frank E Kilroe Mile, Atto Mile and Citation Handicap and the very special Invasor (2002) ($4,204,070 11-10-0-0).
The story of Invasor sends shivers down my spine and has some interesting similarities to the story of his great, great grandfather (our Dancer). Invasor was bred in Argentina by Haras Clausan. He is described as a black-pointed bay with a small white star. He was bought as a two year old by two brothers and a friend from Uruguay. Jaun Luis and Luis Alberto Vio Bado along with Pablo Hernandez flew to Argentina to see some horses. When a smaller plane had engine failure they were forced to visit some local farms near Buenos Aires by car. Eighty colts and fillies later they were “hit with Cupid’s arrow” when they saw Invasor. The asking price was $25,000 (sound familiar) but they were able to negotiate that down to $20,000 before they closed the deal and shipped him home to Uruguay. Invasor won his maiden race by over 6 lengths in February 2005 but fractured his right hind sesamoid bone and needed surgery. He reappeared in August 2005 to win the Ensayo stakes by over 7 lengths. What Invasor accomplished after that was truly incredible. He won the first leg of Uruguay’s Triple Crown, the Gran Premio Polla de Potrillos in September 2005 by almost 6 lengths. In October he won the second leg, the Gran Premio Jockey Club by over 3 lengths before completing the Triple Crown with a 6-length victory in the Gran Premio Nacional.
It was at that point Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum made the brothers and Pablo an offer they couldn’t refuse … $1,400,000. Invasor had only won the equivalent of $113,866 in winning the Uruguay Triple Crown. Invasor was on his way to Dubai via Florida for some training. His next start in the UAE Derby was Invasor’s only loss in his career. He was caught in traffic but still managed a respectable fourth only a half-length out of second but well behind the winner, Discreet Cat. Invasor went back to the U.S. where he won his next three starts, the Pimlico Special, Suburban and Whitney Handicaps. He developed a fever that took him out of the Jockey Club Gold Cup but his next start would be the Breeders Cup Classic.
Invasor had become a National hero in Uruguay, despite being sold to the Sheikh and racing in the U.S. he had a following that ranked him with Uruguay’s National soccer team. The simulcast locations in Uruguay are packed whenever Invasor is racing. On November 4, 2006 Invasor sent the Uruguayans into a frenzy upsetting Bernardini, Lava Man and European Champion George Washington to win the Breeders Cup Classic with 18-year-old jockey Fernando Jara in the irons. Invasor was named the Eclipse Horse of the Year for 2006. From those humble beginnings in Argentina, Invasor had risen to the pinnacle of his sport, carrying the weight of three Nations on his back. Invasor has already won his first start in 2007 and may never see Uruguay or Argentina again. It will be fun to watch his career as a stallion unfold. Leroisdesanimaux is already standing at stud at Stonewall Farm in Kentucky.
Candy Stripes died Feb 28, 2007 at Haras Carampagne in San Antonio de Areco, Argentina because of colic; his dam Bubble Company passed away May 24, 1996. This chapter in Northern dancer’s history is a long way from over.
Lyphard’s foals were spread over 23 crops from 1974 to 1996. He lived to the ripe old age of 36 and was euthanized June 10, 2005. Lyphard’s most successful sons to carry on his and the Dancer’s line were Lypheor (1975), Bellypha (1976), Lyphard’s Wish (1976) and Pharly (1974)
Lypheor only produced 8 crops, he had to be euthanized in 1985 at the young age of eleven but in that short span he was one of the leading sires in Japan with 3 Champions and 24 stakes winners. Lypheor was the sire of broodmares who produced 20 stakes winners.
Bellypha sired many stakes winners but the one who is most responsible for carrying on his and the Dancer’s male line is the French bred Mendez (1981) who is the sire of Linamix (1987) (543,705 pounds 10-4-4-0), the beautiful gray French bred who was the Leading Sire in France 1998 and 2004. Linamix has sired 20 winners of more than 200,000 British pounds already since his first crop in 1992 and 18 of those 20 are males. The future of this branch of the Dancer’s male line looks very safe. Lyphard’s Wish on the other hand produced several good runners but it seems to be the mares who had the most success in the breeding shed.
Pharly had a short but outstanding racing career (1,547,500 francs 13-5-5-1) winning 3 Grade 1 stakes in France. Pharly fractured his pelvis and was euthanized in 2002 after siring 44 stakes winners in 22 crops of foals.
The above chart summarizes Lyphard’s principal runners.
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Nice Dancer was the second leading money winner from the Dancer’s crop of 1969. He was the Champion Three-Year-Old in Canada, winning the Manitoba Derby and Breeder’s Stakes amongst his stakes victories. He was also a fairly successful sire in Canada before moving to Japan in 1979. He sired 1981 Queen’s Plate winner Fiddle Dancer Boy and several solid broodmares including Jolly Polka, the dam of Glide Path, winner of Sweden’s biggest race, The Stockholm Cup. The jewel of Nice Dancer’s family was the lightly raced mare Lonely Dancer, a prolific Canadian bred mare who produced 11 winners out of her 15 foals including Cee’s Song. Cee’s Song was the dam of the 2000 Eclipse Champion Three-Year-Old Colt and Horse of the Year, Tiznow (1997) ($6,427,830 15-8-4-2) and the rags to riches gelding Budroyale who was claimed for $50,000 before going on to win $2,840,810. While Lyphard was considered the first great sire of the Dancer’s sons, it might be Nice Dancer through his female line who has the best chance of extending the Dancer’s line. Tiznow topped off a brilliant racing career with one of the greatest stretch battles in Breeders Cup history, winning the 2000 Classic over another Northern Dancer great-grandson in Giant’s Causeway. Now those two descendants of our Dancer (Giant’s Causeway through male lines) are “duking it out” for young sire honours in 2005. Tiznow was the leading sire of first crop sires while Giant’s Causeway was the leading sire of second crop sires and they were first and third in leading sires of two-year-olds with Giant’s Causeway on top.
Barachois was the third leading money winner from the Dancer’s 1969 crop. His record did not look that impressive with only 4 wins and 2 seconds but one of those wins was in the Queen’s Plate Trials and he finished second in the Queen’s Plate. Barachois was fairly successful as a sire with his leading money winner Win (1980) ($1,407,210 44-14-10-3) another rags to riches gelding. He won many stakes including the Man ‘O War Stakes at the age of five and the Manhattan Handicap twice. He was purchased for $8,000 in 1982 and Win was the first NY bred millionaire. He retired at the age of five and came out of retirement to race at the age of nine when he had a first and third in five starts. Barachois’s next group of money earners were all durable runners, racking up almost 400 starts between the five of them. They were Bara Lass (1979) ($542,362 60-17-9-11), Georgie’s Doctor (1986) ($205,181 37-5-8-4), Gallery Miss (1974) ($198,754 124-16-22-17), Fort Prevel (1974) ($198,327 83-8-14-13) and Casino Action (1984) ($106,358 89-21-17-11), a pretty strong statement about durability.
Gay Northerner was an outstanding broodmare producing 10 winners out of 12 foals.
The Dancer’s lightly raced daughter Royal Statute is a key to future generations and was an outstanding broodmare. She was the dam of Akureyri (1978) ($226,668 12-5-4-1), a stakes winner with a second in the Florida Derby and a respectable sire in his own rite.
Royal Statute’s daughter, Awaasif (1979) was the Champion Three-Year-Old in Britain, winning stakes in England, Italy and finished 3rd in the Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe. Awaasif was the dam of a few good runners including the mare Snow Bride (1986) (170,881 pounds 7-5-0-0), winner of the Oaks amongst other stakes and the dam of several great runners including the incredible, undefeated Lammtarra (1992) ($1,983,527 4-4-0-0) out of distant cousin Nijinsky. We talked about him earlier.
The Dancer’s 1969 crop of foals was certainly an interesting one and one that looks like it has secured his bloodlines for a very long time but it may not have been his best.
Great article from Steve Haskins about Invasor
http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/39500/steve-haskin-commentary-invasor-a-horse-to-remember
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Breeders Cup 2006 - Invasor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvzZJzgk1d4&feature=related
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Dubai World Cup 2007 - Invasor
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uVbN3MLqa9Y&feature=related
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The Donn Handicap - impressive performance
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2WkqdxHWbU&feature=related
Tiznow in a great stretch battle with Giant's Causeway - Breeders Cup Classic 2000
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QdIKDulp-YE
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Tiznow winning Breeders Cup Classic 2001 (only double winner)
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