Northern Dancer
Doug Saunders photo

I’ve been pondering Dr. Hill’s statistics that of the 10,000 Thoroughbreds in her recent study, 97% trace to Canada’s Northern Dancer.  I really should not be surprised.  The entire ‘back story’ is told in my book The horse and the tiger.

The Irish determination with finding another horse as brilliant as Nijinsky, surely set off the quest for Northern Dancer bloodlines.  Dr. Hill’s latest research project, I suggest, points to the long-term results of the era of the “million dollar babies.”

For greater depth, especially if you are interested in the history of the Thoroughbred, there’s my Dark Horse: unraveling the mystery of Nearctic.  Ultimately, I believe, the genetic makeup of Nearctic is a key to understanding the power and the durability of the Northern Dancer bloodlines.

The there’s the fact that the Thoroughbred is a hybrid.  According the world-renowned botanist, Gregor Mendel, certain genetic combinations will create a more vigorous, or hardier hybrid.   Which is, I suspect, what happened in Canada:  Northern Dancer and his sons Nijinsky, The Minstrel and the rest were raised here and spent their early days galloping about across snow-covered fields.

These stories and so much more are found of course in Rivers of Gold… to be continued

Despite the fact that I have been following the Northern Dancer bloodlines since my book,  Northern Dancer: the legend and his legacy was published in 1995, I was stunned by the statistics resulting from Dr. Emmiline Hill’s recent study of 10,000 Thoroughbreds which indicate that 97% find Northern Dancer in their genetic makeup.

Northern Dancer. 1964 Kentucky Derby(CP photo)

According to Dr Emmiline Hill: “Inbreeding has always been high in Thoroughbreds, but it is getting higher. It is likely that, unchecked, inbreeding in the Thoroughbred will continue to increase in a market where there is high demand for particular sire lines. The problem with inbreeding is that it can compromise overall population fertility and health. This is a highly significant issue akin to global warming, where inbreeding is accumulating in the population, that must be addressed at an industry-wide level.”

Yet to know the history of Northern Dancer, and from whence he came, is so vastly different.   Not only that, but way back then Eddie Taylor’s Kentucky friends advised him that it was impossible to breed great horses in Canada: “too much ice and snow.”

I continue to maintain that here , amid the ice and snow, we continue to breed the strongest, toughest, Thoroughbreds… but then I am slightly prejudiced.

too be continued

When I finished writing The horse and the tiger, I was totally exhausted.  Not only from the endless hours in front of my computer, but the massive amount of research it required.  First there was the Irish history.  Despite descending from a long line of black Irish horse-lovers, I knew very little of their story.  According to my father, my forebears were anxious to assimilate into Canadian culture.  Furthermore, those who emigrated to this part, this very British part of our country, were not always  welcomed.  Indeed, there were businesses displaying signs warning “Irish need not apply.”

The horse and the tiger

Researching and writing about the British oppression of Ireland and subsequent famines was enervating.  As was the story of the Irish horse traders and all the outrageous wheeling and dealing.  By the time the book rolled off the presses, I had grown weary of all the various interlocking stories that would constitute The horse and the tiger.

Yet, as books go, I realize now that it is not only excellent, but offers insights into how horse racing, and specifically Thoroughbred breeding, arrived at this critical point in time.

Then this morning I was alerted to research by Emmeline Hill, professor of equine genomics at University Dublin College.  She and her team analyzed the genomes of over 10,000 Thoroughbreds, the results linked the increase of inbreeding within popular sire lines – 97% of horses in the study traced to Northern Dancer.   According to the scientists, the scenario reduces genetic diversity which can lead to inbreeding depression.

… to be continued

The Horse and the tiger was initially inspired by the dust-up between a Scot: Sir Alex Ferguson, famed manager of Manchester United;  and famed Irish horseman John Magnier, of the Coolmore Stud in County Tipperary.  The battle was over the breeding rights to a horse named Rock of Gibraltar, which Ferguson believed he owned.  The Irishman disagreed.

The horse and the tiger

“…The Irishmen would bring a new depth of meaning to the expression vigorously contested.  The brouhaha raged on for an entire year.  When the fight over Rock of Gibraltar was in full fury it received more publicity than the Derby and football finals combined…”

By the spring of 2003 irate Manchester United fans, loyal to their leader, had not only joined the fray, they decided to strike back at the Irishman by targeting British racecourses.

“…It began with a small group at the Hereford race meet carrying banners which they strung across the open ditch jump.  After delaying the races they were escorted from the track by security staff.  The stunt did, however, get the attention of the news media and the threat of escalating actions at Britain’s racecourses ensued..”

In hindsight, however, The horse and the tiger, proved to be much more than a story about a fight over a horse.  Instead it offers insight to the present state of the world of the Thoroughbred today…. to be continued

In 1970, when Nijinsky won the English Derby, attention was focused briefly on Northern Dancer- but only briefly, since Nijinsky did not resemble his sire.  The perception at the time in Great Britain and Europe was that North American horses were bred solely for speed, and they lacked the stamina for the longer distance races.  Northern Dancer’s failure to win the Belmont was seen as evidence of this fundamental weakness.  Nijinsky must have been a fluke.

The Minstrel

Seven years later, when The Minstrel became Northern Dancer’s second son to win the Derby, attention again turned to Northern Dancer.  This time he was taken more seriously.  It wouldn’t be long before Northern Dancer’s offspring were more valuable than gold…

I distinctly recall the afternoon Eddie EP Taylor returned to Windfields estate from Saratoga Springs where he had been busy syndicating The Minstrel.  I was living at Windfields at the time.  My job was to keep the riding horses fit and accompany Taylor whenever he wished to tour the estate and environs on one of his horses.

“This is one you are really going to like,” he told me, “he is so much like Northern Dancer.” Indeed, his trainer, the great Vincent O’Brien, offered that The Minstrel was one of the toughest horses he ever worked with.

So while Nijinsky was clearly one of the most magnificent racehorses in the history of the Thoroughbred, The Minstrel proved to be the tipping point.  For it was this golden colt that catapulted the Thoroughbred world into a buying frenzy that would see stallion prices rocket into the stratosphere….And the new breed of owner set out to make vast fortunes from these animals.  … to be continued

A recent survey on the US-based Paulick Report asked readers if, as we enter 2020, if they were optimistic or pessimistic over the future health of the Thoroughbred industry.  70% checked the pessimistic box.

Gary Stevens aboard the magnificent Beholder

Things appear to be more optimistic over at The Water Hay Oats Alliance (WHOA) a grassroots movement of horsemen and women supporting the passage of federal legislation to prohibit the use of performance-enhancing drugs in the sport of horse racing.  Champion jockey, Gary Stevens, inspiration to my reaction for a “revolution” in North American horse racing, is a longtime member.  As am I.

The organization has been lobbying for the appointment of an independent anti-doping program run by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).  The aim is to resolve the problem of widespread drug use in American racing and put U.S. racing jurisdictions in step with international standards.  The good news is that the organization is making headway.

Writing in his “View from the rail” column at ThoroughbredRacing.com, veteran horse racing executive, Charles Hayward, says “nothing could be more important to the future of the sport” than passage of the Horseracing Integrity Act by the United States Congress.  Hayward is encouraged by the fact that a majority of the 435-member House of Representatives has signed on  as co-sponsors of the bipartisan bill that would create a single, non-governmental agency affiliated with the United State Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) to regulate medication policy and enforcement in horse racing.

Writing about Northern Dancer’s magnificent son, Viceregal, reminded me of several things, not the least of which was the size of foal crops these days.  In his first year at stud Northern Dancer was bred to 21 mares.  One of his many descendants, US Triple Crown winner, Justify, was bred to 252 mares in his first year at stud.

Justify’s first foal. a filly. photo Audley Farm

Northern Dancer’s stud fee was $10,000.  Justify’s advertised stud fee is $150,000.  Do the math…

Justify’s family tree, incidentally, is brimming with Northern Dancer sons.  Nijinsky is in there 3 times; Storm Bird, once; and Vice Regent once.

… to be continued

Viceregal, Northern Dancer’s first offspring, was not only spectacularly beautiful, he was a courageous champion.  Undefeated at two, in 8 starts, 7 of them stakes races.    Indeed I clearly was such a fan, my boss at Woodbine, Trent Frayne, talked me into witnessing Viceregal’s  final two year-old race, the Cup and Saucer Stakes, from the roof of Woodbine.  Frayne assured me it offered the best view.

Viceregal
Michael Burns Sr photo

We no sooner arrived on the roof when the starting bell clanged.  Before long it looked as if Viceregal was about to suffer his first defeat.

“Coming into the homestretch, he was a good ten lengths behind the leaders.  Suddenly he became airborne, his golden mane flying in the wind and his long tail sailing behind like a banner.  He galloped across the finish a neck ahead of the unsuspecting front runner, Grey Whiz.

It’s impossible to know what propelled Viceregal that mild October afternoon; whatever it was that carried him to victory despite his physical limitations and his pain, abandoned him in the winners’ circle.  Viceregal limped away lame…”

“Northern Dancer sired 21 foals in his first year at stud.  Although Viceregal was by far the most beautiful and exciting, his other offspring also proved themselves racehorses of substance…”  (Northern Dancer: the legend and his legacy)

… to be continued

They say to ignore history is to be condemned by it.  So, for me at least, it seems important to know where we’ve been, in order to know where we are headed.  Indeed, writing this blog reminds me of how much I had forgotten, or had stored away in the back cupboards of my mind.

Northern Dancer
Doug Saunders photo

Still as we celebrate Winter Solstice, Hanukah and Christmas this week in North America, I am inclined to set aside the ‘revolution,’ and linger about telling tales about the horse that was central to the shifting perspectives of Thoroughbred horse racing and breeding.

In retrospect, the saga of Northern Dancer unfolded like a wonderful, magical play.  He was, after all, the little horse no one wanted.  My friend, the late Jim Boylen, was among those who could easily have purchased the colt.  Indeed he and brother Phil were at the Windfields yearling sale and liked the look of the stocky bay colt that looked more like a Quarter-horse than a stately Thoroughbred.  Their trainer, however, said, “no.”

Northern Dancer’s lasting impact, of course, was as a stallion.  And right off the mark.

“…Northern Dancer could have had no more appropriate firstborn than the magnificent Viceregal.  Heir to his sire’s tremendous will to win, Viceregal was also one of the most beautiful Thoroughbreds to step upon a racetrack.  He looked every inch an aristocrat.  When the sun touched his chestnut coat it gleamed like gold.  His eye was kind and generous, yet before a race it burned with the “look of eagles.”  A blaze of white from his forelock to his nostrils accented his perfectly sculpted features.  When he pranced onto the track his hooves seemed barely to touch the ground….” Northern Dancer: the legend and his legacy.”

….to be continued

When pondering Gary Stevens call for a revolution in North American horse racing, I wonder if, for the moment, we can simply focus our attention on our horses.  And from all perspectives.  Rachel Bucciaccho, a highly-regarded student of bloodstock in Australia, added her thoughts on foal crops:  stallions at one time breeding 40-50 mares in a season, now close to 200 mares.  What, if any impact, I wonder, does this have on the foals?  Do the large crops, and with many stallions breeding double-duty (both hemispheres) impact the genetic makeup of the foals?

the author interviewing Northern Dancer for his biography

So lets, for the moment, return to Northern Dancer, for he surely became the ‘poster boy’ when it came return on investment.  When he entered stud in 1965 his fee was $10,000 (live foal).  By 1984 the fee had rocketed to $500,000 (no guarantee). Thereafter until he retired from stud 15 April 1987, as much as $1 million was paid for a single breeding with no guarantee.

Northern Dancer was the exception.  The golden stallion.  Sire of champions.  Right from his first crop.

“… Yet he would not have had such an important role in this drama if he had not been so extraordinary, and had he not passed on his power, magic and the will to win to so many of his offspring.

Northern Dancer sired 635 foals; of the 80% that started in races, 80% were winners; 146 horses were stakes winners.  26 of these animals were champions…”

But here’s the rub… Northern Dancer stood at stud for 22 years.  And his owner, breeder, Eddie EP Taylor, did not expect to make his fortune off the backs of his horses.