The Northern Dancer Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in mid-June at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky.
Named in honor of the horse, Northern Dancer, the Grade III stakes for three-year-olds is run on dirt over a distance of 8.5 furlongs (1 1/ miles).
The race currently offers a purse of $150,000.
Canadian-bred and owned honoree Northern Dancer (1961–1990) won the 1964 Kentucky Derby in record time on the Churchill Downs track. He went on to win the Preakness Stakes and Queen's Plate. Retired from racing, Northern Dancer became the most important sire and sire of sires in the second half of the 20th century.
Read more about Northern Dancer Stakes: Winners
Famous quotes containing the words northern, dancer and/or stakes:
“Warmest climes but nurse the cruelest fangs: the tiger of Bengal crouches in spiced groves of ceaseless verdure. Skies the most effulgent but basket the deadliest thunders: gorgeous Cuba knows tornadoes that never swept tame northern lands.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
“‘Come, walk like this,’ the dancer said,
‘Stick you your toes—stick in your head,
Stalk on with quick, galvanic tread—
Your fingers thus extend;
The attitude’s considered quaint,’”
—Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (1836–1911)
“Law makes long spokes of the short stakes of men.”
—William Empson (1906–1984)