Danzig Connection (April 6, 1983 - December 1, 2010) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning an American Classic race.
Owned and bred by Henryk de Kwiatkowski under his Kennelot Stables banner, Danzig Connection was sired by Kwaitkowski's champion, Danzig, and out of the mare Gdynia. His grandsire was the great Northern Dancer and his damsire was the 1968 United Kingdom Horse of the Year and Epsom Derby winner Sir Ivor.
Conditioned by Hall of Fame trainer Woody Stephens, Danzig Connection raced at age two in 1985. At the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, New Jersey, he defeated Storm Cat to capture the World Appeal Stakes. The two colts then reversed positions in the Meadowlands' Young America Stakes.
As a three-year-old, in May 1986 Danzig Connection won the Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park under jockey Pat Day. The biggest win of his career came under jockey Chris McCarron when he won the 1986 Belmont Stakes, defeating Ferdinand and giving trainer Stephens his record fifth straight Belmont victory. From there, the colt went on to finish fourth in the Suburban Handicap. He was third to winner Wise Times in the Haskell Invitational Handicap at Monmouth Park and second to him in the Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. In the Jockey Club Gold Cup, Danzig Connection was third to winner Creme Fraiche. Back at the Meadowlands, he won October's Pegasus Stakes.
Retired to stud, his progeny met with limited success and in 2003 he was sent to stand at a breeding operation in Italy. He died in Sicily in 2010.
Famous quotes containing the words danzig and/or connection:
“He’s leaving Germany by special request of the Nazi government. First he sends a dispatch about Danzig and how 10,000 German tourists are pouring into the city every day with butterfly nets in their hands and submachine guns in their knapsacks. They warn him right then. What does he do next? Goes to a reception at von Ribbentropf’s and keeps yelling for gefilte fish!”
—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)
“It may comfort you to know that if your child reaches the age of eleven or twelve and you have a good bond or relationship, no matter how dramatic adolescence becomes, you children will probably turn out all right and want some form of connection to you in adulthood.”
—Charlotte Davis Kasl (20th century)