Taylor was familiar with the region from his stays at Mrs. broodmares. Confounding conventional wisdom, he bypassed Kentucky and sent Northern Dancer to Chesapeake City, Md. Ten of them were stakes winners.Īfter four breeding seasons Taylor set his sights on the top U.S. He produced a staggering 16 winners from 18 starters. Upon retirement, Taylor’s prize stallion initially stood for $10,000 at Windfields Farm in Oshawa, Canada. P.) Taylor, his breeder and owner, controlled the world’s largest brewery, a springboard to myriad Canadian enterprises that generated $2 billion in revenues in 1966. Northern Dancer blossomed into one of the most influential American stallions of all time.Įdward Plunket (E. However, his greatness was cut short by a strained tendon in that race. The “pocket battleship” won 14 of his 18 races and never finished worse than third. A few weeks later, Northern Dancer returned to his native land and captured the Queen’s Plate at Woodbine. Two weeks later, Northern Dancer swept the Preakness Stakes, and he finished third in the Belmont where some contend that jockey Bill Hartack misjudged the pace. Then Northern Dancer uncorked a jaw-dropping two-minute flat run breaking the 89-year-old track record and become the first Canadian-born and -bred horse to win the world’s most famous race. Two years later, in the lead-up to the Kentucky Derby the press poked fun at the colt’s pint-size (15.1 hands) stature. In 1962, he was offered for $25,000 at his yearling sale. Small and stocky, the bonny bay colt was built more like an old-style Quarter Horse than a sleek Thoroughbred. Northern Dancer and jockey Willie Shoemaker in the Gulfstream Park winner's circle after winning the Florida Derby.
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