The Breeders Cup Mile.....and Northern Dancer

[Paseana]

Yeah I know....how could anybody be thinking about the Breeders Cup Mile in the middle of February! I'm just me though, and when I'm being me, these things happen! So here goes.....

All of the original Breeders Cup races, plus the F&M Turf, and of course not including the two juvenile races, have been won twice now by the same horse. Midnight Lute was the last one when he took down the Sprint for the second time in 2008...I always thought it was kind of surprising that the Sprint would be the last race to fall to a repeat winner.

It's interesting to me, though, that the Mile seems to have become the most likely to fall to repeat winners. It has been won two or more times by the same horse four times!

I just decided to take a look at the sirelines in the Breeders Cup Mile winners.....just for the heck of it. 16 of the 27 runnings of the Breeders Cup Mile have been won by Northern Dancer-line horses. Two of the multiple winners of the race were sired by sons of Northern Dancer, and a third was sired by a grandson. Also, the two sons of the Great One each sired a third winner as well.

There have been five Breeders Cup Mile winners from the Mr. Prospector line, including two-time winner Da Hoss, and strangely enough, the wonderful Six Perfections, and then 6 others, each from a different line altogether.

I hate to remind my fellow baby-boomers, but it has been 46 years since Northern Dancer won the Kentucky Derby in then track record time. He was respected, but no one in their wildest dreams would have predicted what he would become. Before he died in 1990, he saw his great-granddaughter Royal Heroine beat boys in the inaugural Breeders Cup Mile, saw his grandson Last Tycoon win the Breeders Cup Mile at a huge price, and saw his granddaughter Miesque do what she did in the Breeders Cup Mile....both years.

Here's the names of Breeders Cup Mile winners descending from the Great One:

Goldikova - Anabaa/Danzig 3 wins
Lure - Danzig - 2 wins
War Chant - Danzig
Artie Schiller - El Prado/Sadler's Wells
Royal Heroine - Lypheor/Lyphard
Royal Academy - Nijinski II
Miesque - Nureyev - 2 wins
Spinning World - Nureyev
Barathea - Sadler's Wells
Val Royal - Royal Academy/Nijinski II
Opening Verse - The Minstrel
Last Tycoon - Try My Best


Five Breeders Cup Mile winners from the Mr. Prospector line:

Six Perfections - Celtic Swing/Damister
Da Hoss - Gone West 2 wins
Kip Deville - Kipling/Gulch
Miesque's Approval - Miesque's Son


And here's the other six winners:

Cozzene - Caro
Steinlen - Habitat
Domedriver - Indian Ridge/Ahonoora
Ridgewood Pearl - Indian Ridge/Ahonoora
Silic - Sillery/Blushing Groom
Singletary - Sultry Song/Cox's Ridge

It's kind of interesting that two Breeders Cup Mile winners in those last six were sired by the the same stallion, Indian Ridge. Really...two Breeders Cup winners in a narrowed-down six is quite phenomenal...but that's not all. His own sire, Ahonoora, sired Epsom Derby winner Dr. Devious....and if that's not enough, Ahonoora is also the broodmare sire of Azeri! Just another little factoid that points to the genius of Allen Paulson!

I've had a lot of fun with this. It's amazing what a little research will turn up when you decide to look into something that captures you, and how much you can learn because of it...quite by accident.

I just felt like sharing as I went along.

[Joltman]

interesting piece of work....

thx

jm

[todadamson]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

[Maddie Rose]

It's hard to believe it's been 46 years, and Northern Dancer (and Mr.P) bloodlines are still so dominant. It must have been the genes from Nearco and Native Dancer. I never thought that a stallion would top Bold Ruler, but I was wrong. Bold Ruler had the Nearco genes, but not Native Dancer.

[Paseana]

It's interesting that you bring up Nearco, Maddie Rose. In my little study, I only went back to Northern Dancer and Mr. Prospector, without reaching further back than that. Nearco was responsible in tail-male for Northern Dancer, Nasrullah, and Royal Charger, three of the dominant lines, certainly in North American pedigrees, of the 20th century and forward. And with the success of Sunday Silence in Japan and Danehill in Australia (and everywhere else for that matter), Nearco's influence is truly world-wide.

There is a tendency to forget Royal Charger, and that's a mistake. He presented us, either directly or through his sons, with Turn-To, Caro, Halo, Blushing Groom, Hail To Reason, and Roberto. That's a pretty awesome list.

I went back and looked again at the six BC Mile winners not descending from Northern Dancer or Mr. Prospector and discovered that four of them came from the Nearco line, through guess who.......Royal Charger!

Native Dancer became a huge tail-male influence through one son, the incomparable Raise A Native, but he wasn't able to found a three-branch dynasty. He was 15 years younger than Nearco, but in the breeding shed....especially with historical perspective....age difference is meaningless.

In my opinion, Nearco IS the most influential stallion of the 20th century.

[Maddie Rose]

I know Northern Dancer is not descended tail male from Native Dancer, and likewise Mr. P from Nearco. I was just speculating that the similar genes they carry made them two of the best ever sires. I could be wrong, but I think Northern Dancer is considered to be the best worldwide sire of the last century.

Using the internet to compile statistics, such as your BC mile winners, checking pedigrees, keeping up on your favorite horse, or checking race results is great for following the sport. As a fellow baby boomer, I remember when the only racing information I could get on a daily basis came from the racing charts of major tracks, and these were printed on the last page of the sports page of the newspaper.