The Northern Dancer Turf Stakes is a Canadian Thoroughbred horse race held annually at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario. A Grade I event with a current purse of $750,000 ($650,000 plus $100,000 from the Breeders Cup Fund), it is held in the third week of July and run at a distance of 1½ miles on Woodbine's E. P. Taylor turf course.
Inaugurated as the Niagara Handicap, it was first raced on dirt at the Fort Erie Racetrack. In 1957 the race was changed to run on turf and was moved to the Woodbine Racetrack in 1985 where for 1986 only, it was run on dirt. The race became part of the Breeders' Cup program and the name was amended to the Niagara Breeders' Cup Handicap. In 2006, the event was renamed to honour Canada's most famous racehorse, Northern Dancer.
Over the years, the race has been run at various distances:
- 11/16 miles : 1953-1956
- 1⅛ miles : 1957-1975
- 1¼ miles : 1990-1994
- 1½ miles : 1976-1989, 1995 to present
Read more about Northern Dancer Turf Stakes: Records, Winners Since 1986, Earlier Winners
Famous quotes containing the words northern, dancer, turf and/or stakes:
“You’ll wait a long, long time for anything much
To happen in heaven beyond the floats of cloud
And the Northern Lights that run like tingling nerves.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“That if a dancer stayed his hungry foot
It seemed the sun and moon were in the fruit:”
—William Butler Yeats (1865–1939)
“Lie lightly on her, turf and dew:
She put so little weight on you.”
—Marcus Valerius Martial (c. 40–104)
“This man was very clever and quick to learn anything in his line. Our tent was of a kind new to him; but when he had once seen it pitched, it was surprising how quickly he would find and prepare the pole and forked stakes to pitch it with, cutting and placing them right the first time, though I am sure that the majority of white men would have blundered several times.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)