Northern Dancer – The 60th Anniversary of his Kentucky Derby Win – Introduction & Part I
By Jim Bannon
We mark this milestone with personal and heartfelt stories about Northern Dancer from individuals who’s lives had been uniquely touched by this legendary horse.
Jim Bannon’s love of travel and his lifelong passion for horse racing took him to some of the most iconic Thoroughbred horse racing-related locations around the world. He generously shares with us his extensive knowledge of racing and breeding with Northern Dancer’s Legacy in three parts, a travelogue-style account of his experiences with all things ND and the people, places and progeny that he influenced.
“Part 1 – Origins” Jim Bannon’s personal account of the great horse begins with his origins in Europe and how he came to be at Edward Plunkett (E.P.) Taylor’s Windfields Farm. It begins with Lady Angela with a suckling foal by Nearco at her side, bred back and in foal to Nearco, perilously travelled by ship from Newmarket, England to Taylor’s National Stud (which was later renamed Windfields Farm in Oshawa, Ontario). The eventual foal born to her in Canada was Nearctic, sire of Northern Dancer. The legend begins…
“Part 2 – The Track” covers Northern Dancer’s racing career from his exploits as a two-year-old in Ontario, New York, and Florida, to his 3-year-old campaign eventually winning the 1964 Kentucky Derby. Northern Dancer rose to fame on the racetrack with his remarkable speed, agility, and his competitive and fiery spirit.
“Part 3 – The Breeding Shed” looks at his impact as a breed-shaping sire that truly cemented his legacy in the world of horse racing and breeding for time immemorial. Over his illustrious stallion career, Northern Dancer sired numerous champions and his bloodline can be found in a majority of top race horses around the world. His stud fee peaked at $1 million dollars.
Jim explores the fascinating journey of Northern Dancer’s iconic breeding career and the profound influence he continues to have on the sport of international horse racing as one of the most influential sires in the history of Thoroughbred racing.
According to author Muriel Lennox, Every. Single. Entrant. in the 2024 Kentucky Derby can be traced back to Northern Dancer.
The story will be published in three parts starting today with “Part I – Origins” and weekly thereafter. We hope you will enjoy seeing personal photographs and stories from Jim’s private collection!
“Several tumblers had to coincidentally fall into place to unlock the full potential of eventual Canadian hero, Northern Dancer, becoming not only a classic winner but also a breed-shaping sire for pioneer Canadian Industrialist E.P. Taylor.
This first fortuitous factor was the unforeseen relocation out of Italy by the highly successful Italian Horse of the Year for 1938, Nearco. Bred, owned and brilliantly trained by Federico Tesio, Nearco, had a perfect race record in fourteen career starts over distances from abbreviated sprints to marathon venues while racing largely at San Siro race course in Milan and Capannelle race course in Rome. His lone start outside of Italy came in France at Longchamp in the Grand Prix de Paris.
Nearco was sequestered at Tesio’s remote Dormello farm on the western bank of Lago Maggiore just south of the border with Switzerland. Trees had purposely been planted along the shore line to keep out prying eyes from the enterprising endeavours taking place at Dormello. A visit of discovery to Tesio’s farm some twenty plus years ago was facilitated by famed Italian born trainer, Luca Cumani. Dormello was run at that time by Tesio’s former partner, the Incisa family. A feature of the farm was Nearco’s empty stall swept clean and still intact as if a monument. Traversing the sacred grounds revealed nearby the iconic stone rotunda breeding shed and a little farther to the east on the property and still flourishing at the water’s edge were a row of precisely aligned trees shrouding the private property.
Fortunately, Tesio believed in selling his potential stallions and in 1938 he found a willing buyer for Nearco. Martin H. Benson paid Tesio 60,000 pounds. Nearco was then transplanted from his idyllic wilderness setting smack into the headquarters of racing and breeding in Newmarket, England. What good fortune. Nearco took up residence at Beech House Stud on Cheveley Rd located not far from the top of Warren Hill, a popular training spot today just east of the famous town.
When E.P. Taylor went shopping for top equine bloodlines in the early 1950s his focus was on Newmarket and a daughter of the great Hyperion being sold there, Lady Angela, in foal to Nearco and consigned by Harry H. Benson. The Tattersalls sales company, located just south of High Street, has been in business since 1766 and its December sale of breeding stock attracts the top horse people from around the world. Taylor conveyed his enterprising plan to George Blackwell, a representative of the British Bloodstock Agency acting on his behalf, to purchase the mare in foal and have her deliver her foal there in Newmarket. Once she was bred back to Nearco, the pregnant mare and her weanling at her side would set sail for his National Stud farm in Oshawa, Ontario. Stout resistance by Benson to the breed back plan was overcome by Taylor’s stubborn persistence. After some haggling over the tricky details of the payment exchange for the follow up breeding to Nearco, which came late in that one’s life, a satisfactory deal was struck. The odds had once again been overcome.
While Lady Angela’s weanling, Empire Day, turned out to be a moderate race horse, her subsequent foal, Nearctic, gave an enormous boost to not only Canadian racing as its 1958 Horse of the Year but also to Canadian breeding as the sire of Northern Dance in his initial crop of 1961. That, too, had been a consequence of considerable fortune. Northern Dancer’s dam, Natalma, a daughter of American classic winner, Native Dancer, had been a promising racehorse but she had suffered a knee injury and was eventually moved north to Oshawa late in the spring pf 1960 to convalescence. However, a decision was taken to belatedly breed her to Nearctic on July 2 and the following spring Natalma delivered her foal ten days early on May 27th which is almost too late in the foaling season. Northern Dancer was born.
A tenet of E.P. Taylor’s successful commercial breeding/racing operation was to assure potential buyers that his very best were being offered for sale and not being kept for his private racing stable, Windfields Farm. It followed at the 1962 sale of Taylor’s yearlings that all were on offer including Northern Dancer. However, a combination of his diminutive size, belated foaling date and hefty $25,000 reserve price dissuaded all. In yet another baffling twist of good luck, Northern Dancer, went unsold and was instead rerouted to the Windfields racing stable.”
Jim Bannon’s illustrious career has accorded him induction into two Halls of Fame, a Gemini Award in 2010 as Canada’s best sports analyst, numerous accolades for his work as an educator and humanitarian, and his dedicated involvement in Woodbine Racetrack’s Chaplaincy program. Jim enjoyed a memorable career as one of North America’s leading handicappers, racing analysts and TV commentators.
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