Native dancers

Native dancers

Race:	English blood
Father:	Polynesian
Mother:	Geisha
Mother, father:	Discovery
Gender:	stallion
Year of birth:	1950
Year of death:	1967
Country:	United States
Colour:	Gray
Stick measure:	164 cm
Breeder:	Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt II
Owner:	Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt II
Trainer:	William C. Winfrey
Record:	22 starts: 21 wins, 1 place
Prize amount:	$ 785,240
Greatest wins, titles and awards
Greatest victories
Preakness Stakes 1953 Belmont Stakes 1953
title
Gray Ghost of Sagamore
Awards
1952 USA 2 year old champion USA 3 year old champion 1953 USA horse of the year 1952 and 1954
Infobox last modified on: March 15, 2011.

Native Dancer (* 27. March 1950 ; † 16th November 1967 ), and the Gray Ghost called (Gray Ghost), was one of the most admired and celebrated racehorses in history and the first racehorse that through the medium of television fame. He is also the only horse in thoroughbred history to be counted among the best of all time, both on the racetrack and in breeding.

He was born on Scott Farm near Lexington in Kentucky , raised and trained by his owner Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt II (son of Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt ) on Sagamore Farm in Glydon, Maryland . Native Dancer was the son of Preakness Stakes winner Polynesian and Geisha.

In his first season as a two-year-old, Native Dancer won all nine races in which he participated, delighting the audience with his racing style in which he developed his great talent for the final sprint. In 1952 he was voted horse of the year.

As a three year old, the previously undefeated native dancer received a lot of media interest. He won the Gotham Mile and Wood Memorial races, but lost for the first time in the Kentucky Derby . His jockey Eric Guerin was blamed, but he wasn't to blame. Native Dancer was fouled twice during the race and only narrowly lost to Dark Star in the end.

Then he won again at the Preakness Stakes , the Belmont Stakes and the Travers Stakes, which before him only Duke of Magenta, Man o 'War and Whirlaway and after him only two horses had managed so far. He didn't lose that season and was voted three year old champion.

In 1954, Native Dancer won all three races he competed in and was scheduled to be shipped to France to compete in the prestigious Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe , but was withdrawn from racing due to a hoof injury and was only used for breeding purposes used. With 21 victories in 22 races, he was voted Horse of the Year 1954 and featured on the cover of Time Magazine on May 31 .

He was very successful in breeding and countless today's champions, like the Dubai World Cup winner Curlin , can be traced back to him. One of his daughters, Natalma, is the mother of the great Northern Dancer . His grandson Mr. Prospector (1970–1999), rather a modest size on the racetrack, had a long life with many offspring in contrast to his grandfather and he built with his sons Machiavellian, Gone West, Kingmambo, Miswaki, Seeking the Gold, Woodman made the Native Dancer stallion line the dominant stallion line in the United States and the second most important in the world.

Native Dancer was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and the Hall of Fame in 1963. He died on November 16, 1967 after a colic operation and was buried on Sagamore Farm in Glyndon, Maryland. He ranks 7th on Blood Horse Magazine's list of the 100 most important racehorses. Legend has it that since his death his ghost should bypass the Churchill Downs racetrack, the site of his one unfortunate and undeserved defeat that cost him first place on this list.

Web links

Individual evidence

^ Cover of Time Magazine , May 31, 1954.

[1] Cover of Time Magazine , May 31, 1954.