Native Dancer (horse)

Won Hopeful Stakes (USA, 6.5FD, Saratoga)
Won Saratoga Special (USA, 6FD, Saratoga)
Won Youthful Stakes (USA, 5FD, Jamaica)
Won Futurity Stakes (USA, 6.5FD, Belmont; equaled world record 1:14-2/5)
Won East View Stakes (USA, 8.5FD, Empire City)
Won Grand Union Hotel Stakes (USA, 6FD, Saratoga)
Won Flash Stakes (USA, 5.5FD, Saratoga)

1953:

Won Preakness Stakes (USA, 9.5FD, Pimlico
Won Belmont Stakes (USA, 12FD, Belmont)
Won Wood Memorial Stakes (USA, 9FD, Jamaica)
Won American Derby (USA, 9FD, Washington Park)
Won Arlington Classic (USA, 8FD, Arlington Classic)
Won Dwyer Stakes (USA, 10FD, Aqueduct)
Won Gotham Stakes (1st div) (USA, 8.5FD, Jamaica)
Won Travers Stakes (USA, 10FD, Saratoga)
Won Withers Stakes (USA, 8FD, Belmont)
2nd Kentucky Derby (USA, 10FD, Churchill Downs)

1954:

Won Metropolitan Handicap (USA, 8FD, Belmont)
Won Oneonta Handicap (USA, 7FD, Saratoga)

Honors

National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame (inducted in 1963)
Saratoga Hoofprints Walk of Fame (inducted as part of the inaugural class in 2013)
Maryland State Athletic Hall of Fame (inducted in 2014)
American Horse of the Year (1952, 1954; co-champion with One Count in 1952)
American champion 2-year-old male (1952)
American champion 3-year-old male (1953)
American champion handicap male (1954)

Assessments

Native Dancer was rated #6 among the top 100 American racehorses of the 20th century by a panel of experts assembled by The Blood-Horse (Thoroughbred Champions, Eclipse Press, 7th printing, 2005).

In their book A Century of Champions (1999, Portway Press Ltd.), British experts John Randall and Tony Morris rated Native Dancer as the fifth best North American racehorse of the 20th century.

Led the Experimental Free Handicap for American juveniles of 1952 with 130 pounds.

Highweighted at 133 pounds on The Blood-Horse's Free Handicap for American 3-year-old males of 1953, 8 pounds above second-rated Dark Star and Level Lea.

Highweighted at 135 pounds on the Daily Racing Form's free Handicap for American 3-year-old males of 1953, 10 pounds above second-rated Level Lea.

Highweighted at 136 pounds on the Daily Racing Form's Free Handicap for American older males of 1954, 9 pounds above second-rated Mark-Ye-Well..

As an individual

Native Dancer stood 16.3 hands at maturity. A massive gray, reminiscent of his maternal grandsire Discovery in build, he had suspicious-looking ankles and short, rather upright pasterns, both inherited from his sire Polynesian. He was "a big, vigorous, very strong horse" as described by Abram Hewitt in his book Sire Lines. Charles Hatton of the Daily Racing Form described Native Dancer as having "the development of a sprinter before the saddle and that of a router behind." He had a rather round, pounding action despite his long stride. He was forced into retirement by recurrent foot injuries.

Mentally, Native Dancer was intelligent but extremely strong-willed and had a calculating streak. These traits contributed to his penchant for close finishes; he usually had his opposition measured and would launch his bid when he saw fit, with or without his jockey's consent. They also made him rather difficult to handle; if he caught a rider napping, he was apt to clamp his teeth on the unfortunate's boot and heave him right out of the saddle, and he injured two stud grooms before Joe Hall learned his idiosyncrasies. Hall would remain his caretaker from 1959 until Native Dancer's death from complications of surgery to remove an abdominal tumor in 1967.

As a stallion

According to Jockey Club records, Native Dancer sired 212 winners (69.2%) and 43 stakes winners (14.1%) from 306 named foals. Sires and Dams of Stakes Winners 1925-1985 (Blood-Horse) credits him with 44 stakes winners. Native Dancer is an Intermediate/Classic chef-de-race in the Roman-Miller dosage system and is now all but universal in North American pedigrees.

Sire rankings

Per the American Racing Manual (Daily Racing Form) series:

2nd on the American general sire list in 1966; 6th in 1965.
3rd on the American broodmare sire list in 1972, 1976, and 1978; 4th in 1975; 5th in 1971; 7th in 1973 and 1979; 8th in 1974 and 1980; 10th in 1977.

Per The Blood-Horse:

6th on the American general sire list in 1965

Per Great Thoroughbred Sires of the World (2006, Churchill, Reichard, and Rogers):

2nd on the American general sire list in 1966 and 1978; 6th in 1965.
3rd on the American broodmare sire list in 1976; 4th in 1975; 5th in 1971; 7th in 1973, 1974, and 1979; 8th in 1980; 10th in 1977.
2nd on the combined English/Irish general sire list in 1963.
7th on the French general sire list in 1963; 9th in 1962

Notable progeny

Dancer's Image (USA), Dan Cupid (USA), Exclusive Dancer (USA), George Raft (USA), Hula Dancer (USA), Imanative (USA), Kauai King (USA), Natalma (USA), Native Charger (USA), Native Street (USA), Raise a Native (USA), Shenanigans (USA)

Notable progeny of daughters

Fairway Phantom (USA), General Assembly (USA), Icecapade (USA), Northern Dancer (CAN), Royal and Regal (USA), Ruffian (USA)

Connections

Native Dancer was bred and owned by Alfred G. Vanderbilt. He was trained by William C. “Bill” Winfrey and was ridden to his Preakness and Belmont successes by Eric Guerin. He stood at Vanderbilt's Sagamore Farm in Maryland.

Pedigree notes

Native Dancer is outcrossed through five generations. He is a half brother to Orientation, third dam of 1991 Canadian champion 3-year-old male Bolulight. His dam Geisha is a full sister to the good steeplechaser Columbus and is out of Miyako (by John P. Grier), a stakes-winning full sister to 1938 American champion 2-year-old male El Chico and a half sister to juvenile stakes winners Chicuelo and Planetoid, both by Ariel. Planetoid, in turn, produced the remarkable blue hen Grey Flight (by Mahmoud), whose nine stakes winners include two-time American champion filly Misty Morn and two-time American champion sire What a Pleasure.

Miyako and her siblings were produced from the unraced Sweep mare La Chica, whose half sister Danise M. (by Épinard) is the dam of the good juvenile filly Incidentally (by Mr. Busher) and the second dam of 1959 Trenton Handicap winner Greek Star. The next dam in the tail-female line, La Grisette, was imported to the United States in 1925 and is by Roi Herode out of Miss Fiora, by Melton.

Books and media

Native Dancer was released in 2000 as the seventh book in the Thoroughbred Legends series from Eclipse Press. It was written by Eva Jolene Boyd.
Native Dancer: The Grey Ghost Hero of a Golden Age was written by John Eisenberg and was released by Grand Central Publishing in 2003.
Native Dancer is profiled in Chapter 28 of Abram Hewitt's Sire Lines (1977, The Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association; updated and reprinted by Eclipse Press in 2006).
Native Dancer is profiled in Chapter 8 of Avalyn Hunter's American Classic Pedigrees 1914-2002 (2003, Eclipse Press).
Native Dancer is one of 205 stallions whose accomplishments at stud are profiled in Great Thoroughbred Sires of the World (2006, The Australian Bloodhorse Review), a massive reference work written by Jennifer Churchill, Andrew Reichard and Byron Rogers.
Native Dancer is one of 50 Thoroughbreds profiled in Royal Blood: Fifty Years of Classic Thoroughbreds. Written by racing historian Jim Bolus with illustrations and commentary by noted equine artist Richard Stone Reeves, the book was released by The Blood-Horse, Inc., in 1994.

Fun facts

Native Dancer's upset by Dark Star in the Kentucky Derby was ranked #21 in Horse Racing's Top 100 Moments, a review of racing in the 20th century compiled by The Blood-Horse and released in 2006.
Native Dancer is part of one of two three-generation chains of Preakness Stakes winners in American racing history. His sire is 1945 Preakness winner Polynesian, and he himself sired 1966 winner Kauai King. The other such chain begins with 1957 Preakness winner Bold Ruler, who sired 1973 winner Secretariat, in turn the sire of 1988 winner Risen Star.
Native Dancer was the fourth stallion to sire winners of the Kentucky Derby and the Kentucky Oaks in the same year, accomplishing the feat in 1966 when Kauai King took the Derby and Native Street won the Oaks. The other stallions to complete the double are King Alfonso, who sired 1885 Derby winner Joe Cotton and 1885 Oaks winner Lizzie Dwyer; McGee, who sired 1918 Derby winner Exterminator and 1918 Oaks winner Viva America; and Bull Lea, who sired 1952 Derby winner Hill Gail and 1952 Oaks winner Real Delight. No stallion since Native Dancer has captured the double.
Native Dancer was rated 7 pounds better than second-ranked Tahitian King and Laffango on the Experimental Free Handicap of his year, the highest margin of superiority in the history of the Experimental.
Native Dancer appeared on the cover of the May 31, 1954, issue of Time magazine.
Native Dancer made only 3 starts in 1954, the fewest ever for an American Horse of the Year since official polls were instituted in 1936. Since then, only Flightline has achieved American Horse of the Year honors off a similarly brief campaign, this in 2022.
In Hialeah Race Course’s annual poll of its racing officials, constituting six off-the-beaten-track questions centered around the previous year’s racing, longtime officials Charles J. McClennan and Marshall Cassidy picked Native Dancer as one of their two "Hard Luck Champions" for 1954; Turn-to was the other. They also chose Summer Tan as “Most Likely to Succeed” at 3 among 1954’s 2-year-olds, Stan as “Best Grass Horse,” Fisherman as “Most Versatile,” and Pet Bully as “Most Remarkable Comeback.” The two split in the “Biggest Disappointment” category, for which Cassidy picked Porterhouse and McClennan chose Grecian Queen.
Native Dancer was fond of cats and fairly tolerant of small dogs but despised large dogs. According to sportswriter Joe Palmer, the Dancer once found a collie trespassing in his paddock and, catching the collie by the scruff of its neck, threw the dog out over a 6-foot fence.
A statue of Native Dancer by equine artist Gwen Reardon was unveiled at the Saratoga Springs Centennial Park on August 1, 2015.
After Native Dancer's win in the 1953 Preakness Stakes, Alfred Vanderbilt declined to accept custody of the race trophy, the Woodlawn Vase, which had previously resided with the winning owners year by year. A replica of the trophy was crafted for Vanderbilt, and since then, the Woodlawn Vase (considered the most valuable trophy in American sports, with a replacement value in excess of US$4 million) has been brought out for the winner's circle presentation and then returned to its home at the Baltimore Museum of Art, while the winning owner receives a sterling silver replica.
Native Dancer's Preakness trophy was sold at auction through Doyle Auctions for US$100,000 in May 2018. Fittingly, the trophy's new owner---Baltimore-based developer Edward St. John---witnessed Native Dancer's victory as a child and owns Rolling Ridge Farm, which is on land that was once part of Vanderbilt's Sagamore Farm.
Native Dancer was the first horse to be inducted into the Maryland State Athletic Hall of Fame. The only other horse to be accorded this honor is his maternal grandson, Northern Dancer, who entered in 2023.

Photo credit

Bert Morgan photo, undated. From the Keeneland Library Morgan Collection; used by permission. Please contact the Keeneland Library with any questions regarding use or licensure of this photo.

Last updated: May 9, 2024