Prominent among any list of the all-time greats of North American racing would be “The Gray Ghost of Sagamore,” Native Dancer. Champion at 2, 3, and at 4, Native Dancer was Horse of the Year on two of the three major polls at 2, and Horse of the Year on all three at 4. Over three seasons, he won 21 of 22 starts, his sole defeat coming in a controversial loss—by a diminishing head— to Dark Star in the 1953 Kentucky Derby. As a stallion his influence is immense: his son Raise a Native sired Mr. Prospector, and his daughter Natalma is broodmare of Northern Dancer. Mr. Prospector and Northern Dancer are now standing at the head of the world’s most populous two sire lines.

Native Dancer was the first result of the mating between Preakness Stakes winner and champion sprinter Polynesian and the Discovery mare Geisha. The mating was to be repeated, resulting in five more foals: two colts, one that was gelded, and three fillies. This group was less notable than their famous brother to an extreme degree. In fact only one was able to win a race, and that of little account. One would have expected that the sisters might make up for their shortcomings as runners in their careers as producers, but that wasn’t entirely so.

The unraced Almond Eyes appears in the female line of just one black-type scorer, Next Wave, who won five sprint stakes at Monmouth Park and The Meadowlands in the mid 1990s. Mysterious East, who failed to win in eight starts, has been the most prolific foundation mare among Native Dancer’s siblings and is ancestress of 28 stakes winners. They include a U.S. grade 2-winning duo in Domestic Dispute  and Dianes Halo, the former of which raced in the early part of the current century and the latter in the mid 1990s. There have been more minor North American stakes winners since, including in 2020 the Washington-bred Baja Sur , who has won five black-type events at Emerald Downs and Golden Gate Fields and was second in the Green Flash Handicap (G3T) last year. The maternal line descending from Mysterious East is also responsible for three group 1 winners in Chile, one of whom, Spontaneous, is dam of the Redoute’s Choice  filly, Majmu, successful in the Avontuur Estate Cape Fillies Guineas (G1) and L. Jaffee Empress Club Stakes (G1) in South Africa.

The most immediately successful of Native Dancer’s sisters as a broodmare was the unraced Teahouse, who produced a trio of stakes winners in Rum, winner of the Pimlico Stakes and Challedon Stakes, the Philadelphia Turf Handicap scorer August Sun, and Cup of Tea, who was successful in the Pageant Handicap, an event that would have been equivalent to a grade 3 stakes. Cup of Tea never produced a black-type winner but had a successful broodmare daughter in Tea and Toast. Tea and Toast became dam of the Westchester Handicap (G2) victor Dundee Marmalade and is ancestress of six other stakes winners, most recently Star Mabee , who took the Scarlet and Gray Handicap at Thistledown last year.

One of Cup of Tea’s less notable offspring was the Sailor filly, Tot. She was unraced, and although she produced six winners from nine foals, none were able to earn black-type of any description. That this branch of family didn’t die out is down to the intriguingly bred Tall Glass O’Water. She was by the Chesapeake Handicap winner Thin Slice (a son of Damascus out of Tea and Toast) from Tot’s daughter, Water Baby, meaning Tall Glass O’Water was inbred 3×3 to Cup of Tea, and with the siblings Teahouse/Native Dancer 4x4x4. The inbreeding paid off and Tall Glass O’Water won four of six starts, including the Yaddo Stakes at Saratoga Race Course.

At stud, Tall Glass O’Water was dam of six winners from six starters, including six-time black-type scorer Ewer All Wet, a son of Belong to Me who had the three-quarters relatives Northern Dancer/North Sea 3×3 and Native Dancer/Teahouse 5x5x5x5x5.

The mating with Cormorant that produced Tall Glass O’Water’s daughter, Hey Up There, in contrast, produced a complete outcross at five generations. A minor winner, Hey Up There bred the Busanda Stakes winner Sagamoon  to Malibu Moon  . It was Hey Up There’s Citidancer daughter Mrs. Vanderbilt, however, who was destined to become the first mare in six straight generations of the female line to produce a graded stakes scorer. This was the Afleet Alex   filly, Dancing Afleet , a winner of three of her six starts, including the 2013 Delaware Oaks (G2). She has Northern Dancer/North Sea 5x4x6x5 and seven crosses of Native Dancer/Teahouse.

Dancing Afleet is off to a fine start in continuing the recent upgrading of the family. Her first three foals are all winners. The second, the Tonalist   gelding, Avant Garde , is three times graded stakes placed, including second in the WinStar Gulfstream Park Mile Stakes (G2), and April 3, her third foal, Bourbonic , came from last to first to upset the Wood Memorial Stakes Presented by Resorts World Casino (G2) as the longest shot in the field. This was the third win in six starts for Bourbonic, who gained his first victory with a 4 3/4-length score in a maiden claiming event at Aqueduct Racetrack in December. He followed up with a win in a starter/optional claiming contest at the same venue in mid-January, then prepped for the Wood with a second in an allowance/optional claiming test at Parx Racing.

Bourbonic is from the 11th crop of A.P. Indy’s champion 3-year-old male, Bernardini  , and is his 65th Northern Hemisphere stakes winner, and 40th Northern Hemisphere graded stakes winner. Bernardini has both Northern Dancer and Mr. Prospector in his dam, giving Bourbonic five crosses of Northern Dancer/North Sea and nine crosses of Northern Dancer/Teahouse.