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Hall of Fame - Derby Dancer
Original article written by Melissa Mae posted 15 years 2 weeks agoOne of the most exciting parts of the SIM is the Hall of Fame voting every year. It brings back stories of horses from the past, especially those that are favorites of the SIM. Derby Dancer is one of those horses and was recently voted into the Hall of Fame just in the past week. Derby Dancer is still alive at twenty two years of age and is romping around the fields at Racing Heroes Pension and Hospital.
Derby Dancer was bred and is still owned by Jon Xett and was bred to be one of the best dirt routers ever. He is sired by Sea Hero who was a pretty good sire with five millionaires (Derby Dancer was his top earner) and out of Pike Place Dancer, a mare by Seattle Dancer, who won four stakes on both surfaces at the time (both dirt and turf).
Derby Dancer started racing on week one of year four in a four and a half furlong dirt race. It turned out to be his only off the board finish when he finished fifth of eight. Two weeks later Derby Dancer made his second start in a five and a half furlong dirt race where he took second out of twelve in another maiden race. The next race was a six furlong dirt race the next week where he finished third of eleven, even after his hard schedule. Derby Dancer finally got to run at the distance and surface that he was suited for in his second to last start of the season. The colt relished the added distance, winning over eight other horses for fun in a 1 1/16 mile turf race. His last race of the season was a one mile turf race where Derby Dancer showed that he didn’t like the shorter distance as much and finished second.
Derby Dancer made his second season a redemption for his first one as he went back to the dirt to prep for the Louisville Derby. In his first race of the season, the Grade Two Lone Star Derby at a routing distance, Derby Dancer finished third out of nine, which was a surprise since he hadn’t seemed to like the dirt the year before. On week three, Derby Dancer outclassed the very full field in the Arkansas Derby and won by open lengths over Portrait of Pulpit and others. Just a week later Derby Dancer made his start in the biggest three year old dirt race of the year, the Louisville Derby. The distance was perfect for the colt, but having only one week off in season five seemed to catch up with the colt as he lost the Louisville Derby to Soldier Girl and placed third. Week five brought on Derby Dancer’s third race in three weeks at Baltimore Race Course and in the same match up as he had faced just a week before in the Derby, the top three were Soldier Girl, Memorex Victory, and Derby Dancer with Memorex Victory finishing first, Derby Dancer second, and the filly third.
Derby Dancer got a nice long three week break after his hard campaign that ended with a second in the Baltimore Crown. Week eight found the colt just begging for a win as he stepped onto the track for the Haskell Invitational. People noted the change in the colt and commented about how he looked like he had matured in the three weeks he had been away from the track and it was obvious that Xett had the colt revved up for a win. And win he did. Only two horses showed up to race him and it was an easy victory, making the colt look like he was out for a morning gallop. The backside was alive with gossip the next day about the new super colt that had seemed to just appear after his three week hiatus from racing. The next week found the colt in the Midsummer Classic and he was once again pumped to go. Xett looked comfortable up in his owners’ box as the colt loaded into the gate like a professional, but the race wasn’t as easy as Jon had wanted to believe. It was a match race once they broke from the gate between The Natural and Derby Dancer with them continuously swapping the lead and at the end of the race it was a photo finish. After many minutes it was determined that The Natural had won by the hair of his nose over Derby Dancer. However, it was obvious to see that the colt thought he had won as he strutted off the track. He got a confused look in his eye when he didn’t go to the winner’s circle, but he shook his head and pranced back to the barn. The next week saw another big change in the sixteen hand colt as he stepped onto the track for the Super Derby. People swore that he had grown in just the week he had been gone as the horse looked to be the size of a giant. Everyone was excited as the three horses in the field broke from the gates and everything seemed to go in fast forward. If you talk to spectators about the race today, all they will say is they remember horses breaking out of the gate and then going under the wire with the bay half a length in front. No one knows where the time went in that race but it was over in the blink of an eye they believe.
The last race of Derby Dancer’s three year old season was the Steward’s Cup Classic. In his first race against older horses Derby Dancer was facing stiff competition in horses such as Three Day Event (a blue hen mare in the game today), People’s Champion (possibly the start of the Loki era), and the crazy Yokoa Cat also owned by Jon Xett. Derby Dancer broke from the gate fine and was in mid pack most of the race. However, something went wrong as Derby Dancer started going for the lead. He got up to Three Day Event and instead of running past her like he usually did, he played bumper cars, hitting the filly over and over again before getting to the wire a nose in front of the filly. In a very controversial motion that had one side saying “he didn’t do anything” and the other saying “he’s a crazy horse”, Derby Dancer was taken down from the win and place second behind the filly. It was a disappointing finish to the Classic and one that had Xett and his jockey in a big fight.
Year Six found a new jockey on the horse and a new outlook when it came to watching him race. The Shrub Stakes on Week Two was the four year old’s debut and like normal he took a race or two to get warmed up and finished second behind One In A Million. However, unlike the race before, he was a perfect gentleman and stayed straight the whole race. One In A Million and Derby Dancer met up again a week later in the Arcadia Handicap with One In A Million winning the match up again. However, it was clear that Derby Dancer would not let him win again. Derby Dancer shot of wins in his next four starts by a combined twenty two lengths in races such as the Desert World Cup (just as popular back then as it is now), the Suburban Handicap, the Whitney Handicap, and the Woodward Handicap, all on dirt. Before Jon Xett knew it, it was time for the Classic again. Would Derby Dancer pull the same stunt he had pulled the year before? Or would the older, more experienced Derby Dancer focus on racing and not playing bumper horses? Another issue that might arise was that One in a Million was also in the race. He had beat Derby Dreamer in both meetings, would he do it again? There were many questions to be answered and they had the crowd and colt’s connections on their toes as the gates broke open. The race seemed to go in slow motion as the horses jockeyed for position. Derby Dreamer was a bit farther back than usual but by the time they hit the far turn he was turning on the heat and passing horses like they were standing still. However, he still had to pass the royally bred gray colt named Onwardsilvercharm in front of him that had been beating up on the three year olds. The wire was getting closer as the freight train named Derby Dancer was bearing down on the gray. Five lengths, four lengths, three lengths, two lengths, one length. Then it was all over. The gray hit the wire only a length in front of Derby Dancer and in that moment all of the colt’s accomplishments seemed to come to the forefront as Xett hurried to meet his colt at the gap. It was over; Derby Dancer was retired and would never see the track again. After many good memories and even some bad ones, Derby Dancer didn’t have to run his heart out ever again. Xett and Derby Dancer looked at the track one last time before walking to the barn. Xett softly whispered something in the big colt’s ear and Derby Dancer pranced back to the barn in his normal style.
Derby Dancer retired with the Champion Older Horse Simmy that year and his record stood at twenty starts, eight wins, eight seconds, and three thirds with all but one win and place coming on the dirt. The big horse earned $7,710,000 in his career and went on to sire five millionaires with thirty one winners in fifty four racers and over sixteen million dollars in progeny earnings. Derby Dancer had a lasting impact on the SIM and was one of the first multi surface sires in the sim with winners on both the surfaces of the time (dirt and turf). Congratulations to Derby Dancer and Jon Xett for the amazing accomplishment of making it into the Hall of Fame and for bringing back old stories. I hope you enjoy many long years in your retirement.