Sire of sires: Mr. Prospector Dell Hancock photo The legacy of Mr. Prospector lives on and should continue to thrive thanks to the success of such top sons as Afleet, Forty Niner, and Kingmambo, along with grandsons Distorted Humor, Thunder Gulch, and Elusive Quality 14 A tree of many branches Grandson of the great Native Dancer has numerous male-line descendants at stud BY JOHN P. SPARKMAN Northern Dancer.) The male lines of Alydar, THE CURRENT level of influence Exclusive Native, *Sea-Bird, of Thoroughbred racing’s first and Sharpen Up all have faded television hero, Native Dancer, over time, but the line of Mr. could hardly have been predicted Prospector has thrived under at his death in 1967. Forty-three modern conditions and spread years on, there are more male- worldwide. line descendants of Native Dancer in the THOROUGHBRED TIMES Commercial star Stallion Directory, mostly through Bred in Kentucky by Leslie his grandson Mr. Prospector, than Combs II, Mr. Prospector was of any of his contemporaries. the second foal of Gold Digger, An undefeated two-year-old by Nashua, a very good race- champion in 1952, Native Dancer mare who was a great-grand- raced into the nation’s con- daughter of the Combs family’s sciousness in his only losing ef- great foundation mare fort, the 1953 Kentucky Derby. Myrtlewood, by Blue Larkspur. Short of work off a rushed prepa- Champion sprinter and cham- ration, he fell just a head short of Leonard photo Tony pion handicap mare of 1936, catching the classy front-runner Conquistador Cielo, who along with Fusaichi Pegasus ranks among Myrtlewood produced cham- Dark Star after encountering Mr. Prospector’s most talented sons, is equally successful in the pion Durazna and Kentucky minor traffic problems on the first breeding shed in the 1980s and 1990s and is the sire of 72 Oaks winner Miss Dogwood stakes winners turn. (Mr. Prospector’s third dam), In an age of grainy black-and- and her extended family in- white television pictures, Native Dancer en- his fastest American son, the undefeated but cludes champions Seattle Slew, Myrtle Charm, joyed the inestimable advantage of being the unsound juvenile champion Raise a Native, Tudor Queen, Highest Trump, Typecast, only gray horse in fields that otherwise looked sired a Kentucky Derby and Preakness win- Ajina, and Escena. like blurry, dark blobs. His visibility in an era ner in Majestic Prince. A very good sire who Just a few days before Mr. Prospector came when televisions were just becoming com- passed on his own unsoundness with un- up for sale at the 1971 Keeneland summer mon household items in American homes fortunate frequency, Raise a Native is one of yearling sale, his year-older full brother, Search made him the biggest equine hero since three stallions to sire three leading American for Gold, ran second in the National Stallion Seabiscuit. sires, Alydar, Exclusive Native, and Mr. Stakes. That made Mr. Prospector, a medium- Retired to his owner-breeder Alfred G. Prospector. (The other two are Fair Play and sized, lengthy, beautifully balanced colt who Vanderbilt’s Sagamore Farm in Maryland with 21 wins in 22 starts, Native Dancer was Mr. Prospector, b. h., 1970 a very good sire, especially considering his *Sickle 24 Polynesian 42 Unbreakable 35 location far from the best Kentucky mares. *Blue Glass 17 50 298 fls, 36 SWs Native Dancer *Polymelian 14 His record of 43 stakes winners from 306 foals SI 3.13 DI=3.00 Black Polly 36 21 wins, $785,240 Black Queen 30 (two crops for some contemporary stallions), Champion Display 23 304 fls, 44 SWs Geisha 43 Discovery 31 a 14.1% strike rate, stands comparison with 8 fls, 1 SW Ariadne 26 SI 4.10 DI=2.20 John P. Grier 17 the best stallions of his era bar *Nasrullah Raise a Native 61 DI=0.40 Miyako 35 838 fls, 78 SWs La Chica 30 =Ajax (Fr) 01 and Bold Ruler. SI 3.14 DI=1.57000 Case Ace 34 *Teddy 13 =Rondeau (GB) 00 Raise You 46 248 fls, 20 SWs Native Dancer died the year after his son Ultimus 06 5 wins, $37,220, SW SI 1.54 DI=0.50 Sweetheart 20 Kauai King won the Kentucky Derby and 14 fls, 2 SWs *Humanity 16 Man o’ War 17 Preakness Stakes—two victories that came DI=0.43 Lady Glory 34 American Flag 22 11 fls, 2 SWs *Lady Comfey 13 Whisk Broom II 07 in the absence of the injured Buckpasser and DI=0.48 Beloved 27 Bill and Coo 19 Graustark—and the year before his son =Pharos (GB) 20 *Nasrullah 40 =Nearco (Ity) 35 Dancer’s Image became the only disqualified 423 fls, 93 SWs =Nogara (Ity) 28 Nashua 52 *Blenheim II 27 SI 5.38 DI=1.95 =Mumtaz Begum (Fr) 32 Derby winner. At that point in Thoroughbred 22 wins, $1,288,565 =Mumtaz Mahal (GB) 21 Champion Jamestown 28 breeding history, Native Dancer’s good 637 fls, 77 SWs Segula 42 Johnstown 36 6 fls, 2 SWs La France 28 French-raced son Dan Cupid had already SI 2.54 DI=3.18 =Sardanapale (Fr) 11 Gold Digger 62 DI=0.14 *Sekhmet 29 sired the greatest horse ever bred in France, 12 fls, 3 SWs =Prosopopee (Fr) 16 *Sunreigh 19 *Sea-Bird, but Native Dancer’s once-raced DI=2.23 Count Fleet 40 Reigh Count 25 Sequence 46 434 fls, 39 SWs *Contessina 09 Haste 23 son Atan, who would get the outstanding sire 5 wins, $54,850, SW SI 2.43 DI=1.67 Quickly 30 8 fls, 3 SWs Stephanie 25 Sharpen Up (GB) two years hence, was an *Teddy 13 DI=1.13 Miss Dogwood 39 *Bull Dog 27 anonymous nonentity. 9 fls, 3 SWs =Plucky Liege (GB) 12 Blue Larkspur 26 DI=1.50 Myrtlewood 32 Two years after Native Dancer’s death, *Frizeur 16 15 turned out his right front leg slightly, a hot commodity. He topped the sale on a $220,000 bid from Abraham I. “Butch” Savin’s Aisco Forty Niner (right) and Farm through trainer Jimmy Croll. Seeking the Gold (below), who were both foaled at Unraced at two because of sore shins, Mr. Claiborne Farm in the Prospector was the sensation of the 1973 1985 crop, share nearly Gulfstream Park meeting, winning his first equal abilities on three starts. In his third start, he set a six- the racetrack and 4 furlong track record of 1:07 ⁄5 that stood un- also enjoy successful matched until his great-grandson Artax stallion careers equaled it by running the same distance in 1:07.89 when he won the 1989 Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1). Mr. Prospector happened to come along in the year of Secretariat, but his attempt to meet the great one in the Kentucky Derby (G1) ended Leonard photo Tony when he finished second in the Derby Trial. Ankle chips aborted quickly earned promotion to Kentucky. A Mr. Prospector’s three-year-old consistent sire that rarely sired really top- season, but he returned at four class horses, Crafty Prospector accumu- to win four of nine starts, in- lated 93 stakes winners from 1,092 foals cluding the Gravesend and (8.5%), including Japanese champion Agnes Whirlaway Handicaps, setting Digital, perhaps his best son at stud. another six-furlong track record The better mares available to Mr. in the latter race at Garden State Prospector in Kentucky predictably led to Park. His most revealing effort, an even higher profile, both on the sire PhotosByZ.com though, was his second to the list and commercially. Mr. Prospector was great Forego in the Carter Handicap (G2). 2006). His daughters have produced a record especially effective with mares by the great That proved that Mr. Prospector was not 377 stakes winners through November 20, Claiborne sire Buckpasser, and two sons from as good as the two best horses in a great crop, including 16 champions, and many are still that cross, in addition to Miswaki, exerted a but he was obviously a very fast horse wor- in production. long-term influence. thy of a good chance at stud. Though he had Woodman (Playmate, by Buckpasser), a offers from stud farms in Kentucky, Savin Many branches $3-million purchase at the Keeneland July chose to stand him at his own Aisco Stud in Mr. Prospector’s male line lives on through sale of selected yearlings, won his three starts Ocala. both his Florida-sired and Kentucky-sired at two in Ireland and was named champion Mr. Prospector became the prototypical progeny. The horse that put Mr. Prospector Irish juvenile, despite defeat in his only start Florida sire, getting a passel of fast two-year- on the map, though, as a sire of sires was in England. Woodman raced only once at olds in his first crop, led by 1978 champion Fappiano (Killaloe, by Dr. Fager), winner of three, but his sensational first crop made him two-year-old filly It’s in the Air (out of A Wind the 1981 Metropolitan Handicap (G1). an international star and confirmed Mr. Is Rising, by Francis S.). Both It’s in the Air Fappiano’s best son, Unbridled, has also be- Prospector’s reputation as a sire of sires. and other runners from his subsequent Florida- come a force in the breeding industry and is American champion three-year-old male and conceived crops soon proved he was much already a successful sire of sires. dual classic winner Hansel, English cham- more than a regional sire, and by the time his Fappiano and Miswaki (Hopespringseternal, pion two-year-old male Mujtahid, and French son Conquistador Cielo won the Belmont by Buckpasser) were perhaps Mr.