The Northern Dancer Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race

Thoroughbred horse race

Thoroughbred horse racing is a worldwide sport and industry involving the racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport: Flat racing and National Hunt racing...

 held annually in mid-June at Churchill Downs

Churchill Downs

Churchill Downs, located in Central Avenue in south Louisville, Kentucky, United States, is a Thoroughbred racetrack most famous for hosting the Kentucky Derby annually. It officially opened in 1875, and held the first Kentucky Derby and the first Kentucky Oaks in the same year. Churchill Downs...

 in Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...

.

Named in honor of the horse, Northern Dancer

Northern Dancer

Northern Dancer was a Canadian-bred Thoroughbred racehorse and the most successful sire of the 20th Century. The National Thoroughbred Racing Association calls him "one of the most influential sires in Thoroughbred history"....

, the Grade III stakes

Graded stakes race

A graded stakes race is a term applied since 1973 by the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association to thoroughbred horse races in the United States and Canada to describe races that derive their name from the stake, or entry fee, owners must pay...

 for three-year-olds is run on dirt over a distance of 8.5 furlongs (1 ¹/16 miles).

The race currently offers a purse of $150,000.
Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

-bred and owned honoree Northern Dancer (1961–1990) won the 1964 Kentucky Derby

Kentucky Derby

The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...

 in record time on the Churchill Downs track. He went on to win the Preakness Stakes

Preakness Stakes

The Preakness Stakes is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held on the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs on dirt. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds ; fillies 121 lb...

 and Queen's Plate

Queen's Plate

The Queen's Plate is Canada's oldest thoroughbred horse race. It is run at a distance of 1¼ miles for 3-year-old thoroughbred horses foaled in Canada. The race takes place each summer in June or July at Woodbine Racetrack, Etobicoke , Ontario...

. Retired from racing, Northern Dancer became the most important sire

Sire

Sire may refer to:* Father, the counterpart of a dam, particularly in animal breeding. See also stallion* James W. Sire, author on worldviews* Sire Records, a record label* Sire Advertising, an advertising agency...

 and sire of sires in the second half of the 20th century.

Winners

Year	Winner	Jockey	Trainer	Owner	Time
2010	Colizeo	Garrett Gomez	Todd Pletcher Todd Pletcher Todd Pletcher is a leading American thoroughbred horse trainer. He has won four consecutive Eclipse Awards as outstanding Trainer of the Year, while topping the leader board in purse earnings in 2004, 2005, and 2006. His horse Super Saver won the 2010 Kentucky Derby, the first of his 24 horses...	Wertheimer et Frere Wertheimer et Frère Wertheimer et Frère is a Thoroughbred horse racing and breeding business partnership between brothers Alain and Gerard Wertheimer of France.The Wertheimer brothers are the owners of the House of Chanel in Paris...	1:43.60
2009	Successful Dan	Julien Leparoux Julien Leparoux Julien R. Leparoux is a Champion jockey currently racing in the United States.Leparoux, grew up in a racing family, the son of a jockey turned assistant trainer. He worked at the Chantilly Racecourse as a stable hand and in January 2003 emigrated to California to work as an exercise rider for...	Charles Lopresti	Morton Fink	1:43.30
2008	Pyro Pyro (horse) Pyro is an American Thoroughbred Stallion Racehorse. His sire is Pulpit, a son of the 1992 Eclipse Award Winner for American Horse of the Year, A.P. Indy...	Shaun Bridgmohan Shaun Bridgmohan Shaun X. Bridgmohan is a jockey in American Thoroughbred horse racing.At age thirteen, Bridgmohan's family emigrated to the United States, settling in South Florida where he developed an interest in horse racing...	Steve Asmussen Steve Asmussen Steven Mark Asmussen is an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer. Born into a horse racing family, his parents, Keith and Marilyn "Sis" Asmussen, are both trainers who operate El Primero Training Center off the Mines Road in Laredo, the seat of Webb County in south Texas...	Winchell Thoroughbreds	1:43.53
2007	Chelokee Chelokee Chelokee is an American Thoroughbred racehorse. Bred by Foley Farms Bloodstock, he was sired by multiple stakes winner Cherokee Run...	Ramon Dominguez	Michael Matz Michael Matz Michael Ray Matz is an American Olympic equestrian rider and horse trainer. He is perhaps most well known for having trained the ill-fated Barbaro to win the 132nd Kentucky Derby in 2006. The previously undefeated colt suffered a career and life ending injury after the start of the Preakness Stakes...	Centennial Farms	1:42.46
2006	High Cotton	Garrett Gomez	Todd Pletcher Todd Pletcher Todd Pletcher is a leading American thoroughbred horse trainer. He has won four consecutive Eclipse Awards as outstanding Trainer of the Year, while topping the leader board in purse earnings in 2004, 2005, and 2006. His horse Super Saver won the 2010 Kentucky Derby, the first of his 24 horses...	Peachtree Stable	1:43.33
2005	Don't Get Mad	Gary L. Stevens	Ronald W. Ellis Ronald W. Ellis Ronald W. Ellis is an American Thoroughbred horse racing trainer. A November 8, 1997 Los Angeles Times article noted that he "is known for taking his time with horses and taking special care with those prone to injury." Ron Ellis only saw his first live Thoroughbred horse race at age sixteen but...	B. Wayne Hughes	1:42.46
2004	Suave III	Rafael Bejarano	Paul J. McGee	Jay Em Ess Stable	1:44.50
2003	Champali	Pat Day Pat Day Patrick Alan "Pat" Day is an American jockey. He is a four-time winner of the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey and was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1991...	Gregory Foley	Lloyd Madison Farm	1:34.69
2002	Danthebluegrassman	Jerry Bailey	Bob Baffert Bob Baffert Robert A. "Bob" Baffert is an American horse owner and trainer, whose horses have won three Kentucky Derbies, five Preakness Stakes, one Belmont Stakes and two Kentucky Oaks. He graduated from the University of Arizona's with a Bachelor of Science degree. -Early career:Bob Baffert began his...	Michael E. Pegram	1:35.04