"The Dancer’s story begins with Canadian tycoon Edward P. Taylor’s breeding of his classy homebred Nearctic to the stakes-placed mare Natalma. Nearctic was by the Italian-bred sensation Nearco, out of the Irish mare Lady Angela (a daughter of the British champion sire Hyperion), while Natalma was a daughter of Maryland’s “grey ghost” Native Dancer, himself a champion in America’s classic races. On May 27, 1961, Natalma gave birth to a bay colt with three white socks, a crooked blaze, his feisty nature and his small size. Taylor’s wife Winifred dubbed him Northern Dancer.
Unsold as a yearling, Northern Dancer thrived as a racehorse and, under trainer Horatio Luro, became Canada’s champion 2-year-old colt. Under Bill Hartack, Northern Dancer won the Kentucky Derby in a record 2:00, becoming the first Canadian-born horse to triumph in this American race. He went on to win Maryland’s Preakness Stakes, too, but his Triple Crown bid ended when he finished third in New York’s Belmont Stakes, the victim of a strained tendon. He boasted a career total of 14 wins, two seconds and two thirds from 18 starts, to the tune of more than $580,000. The 3-year-old championship, the Canadian Horse of the Year title and Athlete of the Year tributes were his. He was even inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame, the first animal to be honored that way.
Over 23 seasons, Northern Dancer sired 635 registered foals, 80 percent of which raced. Of these, an astounding 80 percent were winners, 146 of them stakes winners and 26 champions. Northern Dancer established racing’s most dominant male line of the late 20th century. He is now considered the greatest commercial sire in Thoroughbred history, because his progeny have won more major stakes races and earned more money than those of any other stallion. Today, half to three-quarters of all modern Thoroughbreds are believed to have Northern Dancer in their bloodlines, a tribute to both his longevity at stud and the success of his offspring.
His place in history secure, Northern Dancer was inducted into American racing’s Hall of Fame in 1976, retired from stud at age 26 and euthanized on Nov. 16, 1990 due to colic. Northern Dancer was posthumously honored with a Breyer portrait in his likeness in 2012." www.breyerhorses.com.
Released late in 2012, so not pictured in the 2012 catalog. On the 2014 Retired List, but still shown in the 2014/2015 catalog.