Dancing Brave

Dancing Brave (11 May 1983 – 2 August 1999) was an American-bred, British-trained Thoroughbredracehorse and sire. In a racing career which lasted from the autumn of 1985 until October 1986, he ran ten times and won eight races. Dancing Brave was the outstanding European racehorse of 1986, when he won the 2000 Guineas, the Eclipse Stakes, the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. His only defeats came in the Derby and the Breeders' Cup Turf. A modest sire of winners in Europe, he was later exported to Japan, where he enjoyed more success before his death in August 1999.

Dancing Brave is regarded as one of the greatest racehorses of the twentieth century.

Dancing Brave was a bay colt with a white snip and three white feet, standing sixteen hands high, bred by the Glen Oak Farm in Kentucky.^[2] He was not a particularly attractive individual as a young horse, being described as parrot-mouthed with imperfect forelegs.^[3] Dancing Brave was sired by Lyphard out of Navajo Princess, a mare who won sixteen races including the Molly Pitcher Handicap. Navajo Princess was a descendant of the mare Stolen Kiss, who was the ancestor of notable racehorses including the Epsom Derby winner Henbit and the Kentucky Derby winner Lucky Debonair.^[4]

Fue adquirido cuando tenía un año por James Delahooke, en nombre de Khalid Abdullah, por US$200,000 en Kentucky . El potro fue enviado a entrenar con Guy Harwood en Pulborough . ^{[ 5 ]} En ese momento, Harwood era conocido por su enfoque moderno del entrenamiento, introduciendo en Gran Bretaña características como las pistas de galope artificiales y los establos estilo granero. ^{[ 6 ]}

At the end of 1986, the panel of Racehorse handicappers met from the major racing nations of Europe to determine the International Classifications, the annual rating of thoroughbred racehorses who have run in Europe. Dancing Brave was awarded a rating of 141, the highest rating ever given to any horse up to that time.^[1] These are the official ratings as recognised by the organised racing bodies in Great Britain, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia, Switzerland and Austria. In January 2013 the ratings were "recalibrated" and Dancing Brave was given a revised rating of 138, now putting him second to Frankel who was rated at 140.^[15] Dancing Brave was given a rating of 140 by Timeform.^[1][16] In 1999, The Independent described Dancing Brave as "the greatest British Flat champion of the last quarter of a century".^[5]

Dancing Brave fue elegido Caballo Británico del Año en 1986 por el Club de Aficionados a las Carreras. Al obtener los 27 votos en la votación, fue el primer caballo en ser elegido por unanimidad desde Brigadier Gerard en 1971. ^{[ 1 ]}

Pat Eddery calificó a Dancing Brave como el mejor caballo que jamás montó y una "carrera única en la vida", mientras que Khalid Abdullah lo describió como el caballo más destacado que jamás haya portado sus colores. Guy Harwood lo llamó "el mejor que he entrenado". ^{[ 17 ]} En su libro A Century of Champions , John Randall y Tony Morris clasificaron a Dancing Brave como el sexto mejor caballo de carreras británico del siglo XX y el decimosexto mejor caballo del siglo entrenado en cualquier país. ^{[ 18 ]}

Dancing Brave fue sindicado con un valor estimado de 14 millones de libras esterlinas. Se retiró para servir como semental en el Dalham Hall Stud en Newmarket con una tarifa inicial de monta de 120 000 libras esterlinas. Según Tony Morris en Thoroughbred Stallions (1990) , era conocido por transmitir con frecuencia su boca de loro a su descendencia. En noviembre de 1987 se descubrió que padecía la enfermedad de Marie ^{[ 19 ]} y tuvo problemas de fertilidad en 1988. ^{[ 20 ]} Su modesto éxito inicial llevó a su exportación a Japón, para servir como semental en la Estación de Sementales Shizunai en Hokkaidō en 1991. Murió el 2 de agosto de 1999 de un ataque al corazón . ^{[ 21 ]}

He sired numerous winners, having a particularly good crop of three-year-olds in 1993, foaled in the year before his export, including Commander in Chief, who won The Derby and the Irish Derby, and White Muzzle, second in both the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes and the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. Other good winners included Wemyss Bight, Cherokee Rose and Ivanka.^[22] The best of his Japanese offspring was the filly T.M. Ocean who won the Oka Sho and the Shuka Sho in 2001.^[23] Among his other Japanese offsprings were King Halo, who won the Takamatsunomiya Kinen in 2000 and became the damsire of Equinox and Pixie Knight,^[24] as well as Kyoei March, winner of the 1997 Oka Sho and granddam of 2021 BC Distaff winner Marche Lorraine.^[25][26]