Sunday, May 16, 2010

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.

Sunday, May 2, 2010

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.