(10 of 10)
The challenge plucks at the will of Owner Vanderbilt. It piques the imagination of those who see in the Dancer the qualities of true thoroughbred greatness. They can visualize the power-burst finish —uphill and all—and the proud, nostril-flaring stand in a foreign winner's circle. Whether the vision proves right or not, memory is likely to treasure the Big Grey. "There," they will say someday, "there was a real champion."
*Slightly less than 1% of approximately 50,000 thoroughbred horses in the U.S. are greys, their grey genes traceable back in the thoroughbred books to one stallion known as Alcock Arabian or Mr. Pelham's Grey Arab (circa 1650). In some racing circles, there is talk that greys are unlucky and poor stayers, but that has no foundation in the records. For a time, however, the grey line almost died out of racing. The line was resuscitated by a French grey named Le Sancy foaled in 1884. Le Sancy's blood passed down to a powerful procreator named Roi Herode. The Dancer's grey dam, Geisha, is a great-great granddaughter of Roi Herode.
**Distributed thus: Jockey Guerin, 113 Ibs.; equipment (saddle, girth and saddle cloth), 4½. Ibs.; flat lead weights in saddlecloth slots, 12½ Ibs.