American Pharoah dominates in the Preakness

Once again we have a horse with a chance at the Triple Crown. It was 51 years ago to the day that his great great great grandsire, Northern Dancer accomplished the same feat. The downpour and sloppy track didn't seem to bother American Pharoah as he stormed to victory by seven lengths. It was longshot Tale Of Verve finishing second and Divining Rod third. All three were great great great grandsons of The Dancer. In the case of Divining Rod, his great great grandmother was the Dancer's Hall of Fame daughter Fanfreluche. She was kidnapped while in foal to Secretariat. You can read about her in this blog.

photo from AP/Mike Stewart

American Pharoah - great great great grandson x2 through Storm Cat/Storm Bird and El Gran Senor
Tale Of Verve - great great great grandson x3 through Storm Cat/Storm Bird and Nijinsky
Divining Rod - great great great grandson x3 through Storm Cat, Nijinsky and daughter Fanfreluche


Link to Fanfreluche in this blog http://northerndancerblog.blogspot.ca/2009/12/chapter-12_2744.html

American Pharoah wins the 141st running of the Kentucky Derby

It was favourite American Pharoah winning the Kentucky Derby with a tough Firing Line second and stablemate Dortmund finishing third. All three were descendants of The Dancer.

American Pharoah - great great great grandson through Storm Cat/Storm Bird
Firing Line - great great great grandson x2 through Danzig and Storm Bird
Dortmund - (son of Big Brown) great great grandson x3 through Danzig and Nuryev


photo from Peter Casey USA Today

Gleneagles wins first leg of British Triple Crown

While we wait for this year's running of the Kentucky Derby, Gleneagles wins the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket to take the first leg of the British Triple Crown. It was Territories second and Ivawood third, all three are Irish breds and descendants of Northern Dancer.

Gleneagles - great great grandson through Galileo/Sadlers Wells
Territories - great great grandson x2 through Danzig
Ivawood - great great great grandson x2 through Danzig


image from Alan Crowhurst Getty Images

Prince Bishop upsets in Dubai World Cup 2015

It was a 14-1 Irish bred upsetting the Americans in the world's richest horse race. Prince Bishop outran California Chrome in deep stretch to win the Dubai World Cup. Lea finished third. All three were descendants of Northern Dancer as were 24 of the 24 top 3 finishers in the 8 featured races on the day. Total purse money on the day was over $30 million. The 24 grandkids of Northern Dancer were bred in 8 different countries on 5 different continents.

photos from Satish Kumar (The National) and Ahmed Jadallah (Reuters)

video of the races
http://www.dubairacingclub.com/media/videos/videos

Hong Kong Cup 2014 - Designs On Rome

Designs On Rome won the planet's 2nd richest race this weekend in the Hong Kong Cup. It was an exciting finish as Designs On Rome came from last at the top of the stretch to nip Military Attack at the wire. Criterion finished third. All top three finishers were descendants of Northern Dancer. Designs On Rome's sire Holy Roman Emmperor was the son of Danehill and Fanfreluche's daughter L'on Vite.

1) Designs On Rome (IRE) - great great grandson x3
2) Military Attack (IRE) - great great grandson x2 through Danehill/Lyphard
3) Criterion (NZ) - great great great grandson x3 also through Danehill and Dancer's HOF daughter Fanfreluche


That wraps up another year of Classic G1 races from around the globe and it's fair to say Northern Dancer's impact on the International sport is as big as ever. It was a difficult year for me to keep track of just because of the changes in my own life. I missed a lot of live coverage and had to settle for my own video links to experience the excitement after the events took place. The races took place on 4 different continents but 6 different continents and many more countries were represented in the breeding of the world's top thoroughbred champions who all shared one common thread in the DNA of our little Canadian Sire. It looked like a few years back things were going to change and we might see the impact wain but now it's stronger than ever. I hope I can keep this up in some fashion but if not it may not be necessary to document what is becoming more and more obvious. Let's see what happens next spring.

photos from hjkc.com

video of race
http://campaign.hkjc.com/en/2014-hkir/2014-media-video.aspx?vdo=replay-full/2014/20141214/08/eng/replay-full_20141214_08_eng

Japan Cup 2014

I just missed the Japan Cup live but here are the results. Epiphaneia powered to the victory ahead of Just A Way and Spielberg. All three were Japanese breds and of course were all descendants of Northern Dancer. The purse was worth 250 million yen ($5M US).

1) Epiphaneia - great great grandson x2 through Sadlers Wells
2) Just A Way - great great great grandson through Lyphard
3) Spielberg - great great grandson x2 through Sadlers Wells and Lyphard


photos from japanracing.jp (click on to enlarge)

video of race http://web-cache.stream.ne.jp/web/jra/onetag/sub/player.html?movie=jra_english/2014/1130/201405050911&ua=4

Breeders Cup 2014 - Classic

In the big race it was a clean sweep for the US breds with Bayern coming out on top, going wire to wire with Toast Of New York finishing second and California Chrome finishing third. Of course, all three were descendants of my little Canadian hero Northern Dancer.

1) Bayern - great great great grandson through Storm Bird
2) Toast Of New York - great great grandson x5 through Sadlers Wells, Danzig
3) California Chrome - great great grandson through the prolific daughter Dance Number


Well that a wrap for this year`s Breeders Cup Races (at leats the big 8 races). Of the 24 top 3 finishers all 24 were descendants of Northern Dancer and while it was a great day for US breds there were still 5 countries on 3 continents represented in the breeding of these Dancer grandkids and Northern Dancer`s daughters were well represented.

photos from breederscup.com (click on them to enlarge - great photos this year)

video of race http://www.breederscup.com/results/2014/classic

Breeders Cup 2014 - Turf

In the $3M Turf it was Main Sequence completing a perfect season with Flintshire second and Twilight Eclipse third.

1) Main Sequence (USA) - great great great grandson x3 through Nijinsky, Nuryev
2) Flintshire (GB) - great grandson x3 through Sadlers Wells
3) Twilight Eclipse (USA) - great great grandson through Nijinsky


photos from breederscup.com

video of race http://www.breederscup.com/results/2014/longines-turf

Breeders Cup 2014 - Mile

In the Mile it was the Japanese bred Karakontie in his first race outside of France winning with Anodin second and Trade Storm third. All 3 International breds were grandsons of the Dancer.

1) Karakontie (JPN) - great great grandson x2 through Storm Cat
2) Anodin (IRE) - great grandson x2 through Danzig
3) Trade Storm (GB) - great great great grandson through The Minstrel, Danzig, Lyphard


photos from breederscup.com

video of race http://www.breederscup.com/results/2014/mile

Breeders Cup 2014 - Filly and Mare Turf

In the $2M Filly and Mare Turf it was Dayatthespa going wire to wire to get the win with Stephanie`s Kitten second and Just The Judge third.

1) Dayatthespa (USA) - great great great great granddaughter through Nijinsky
2) Stephanie`s Kitten (USA) - great great granddaughter through Sadlers Wells
3) Just The Judge (IRE) - great great great granddaughter through Danzig


photos from breederscup.com

video of race
http://www.breederscup.com/results/2014/filly-mare-turf