Snaafi Dancer (foaled February 25, 1982) is a

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are ...

racehorse who was the first

yearling Yearling may refer to: *Yearling (horse), a horse between one and two years old *''The Yearling ''The Yearling'' is a novel by American writer Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, published in March 1938. It was the main selection of the Book of the Mo ...

to sell for more than

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

10 million ($ million in current dollars).

Breeding

Bred by Donald T. Johnson under the name of his Crescent Farm, he was out of the mare My Bupers and sired by

Northern Dancer Northern Dancer (May 27, 1961 – November 16, 1990) was a Thoroughbred who, in 1964, became the first Canadian-bred horse to win the Kentucky Derby. He then became one of the most successful sires of the 20th century. He is considered a Canad ...

whom the

National Thoroughbred Racing Association The National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) is a broad-based coalition of American horse racing interests consisting of leading thoroughbred racetracks, owners, breeders, trainers and affiliated horse racing associations, charged with incr ...

calls "one of the most influential sires in Thoroughbred history." Snaafi Dancer joins nine other descendants of Northern Dancer who clinch the entire list of the ten most expensive colts sold at auction (current to 2014). His dam, My Bupers, had previously produced several winners including the American Champion Sprint Horse My Juliet and the Champagne Stakes winner Lyphard's Special.

Sale

Sent to the 1983 Keeneland Select Sale, bidding opened on the yearling at $1 million, passed the previous record forty-five seconds later with a bid price of $4.5 million, and finally closed at a new record price of $10.2 million to Sheikh Mohammed's Aston Upthorpe Stud. Looking for a Northern Dancer horse that could be a foundation stallion for his breeding operations – as had happened with chief rival

Coolmore Stud Coolmore Stud, in Fethard, County Tipperary, Ireland, is headquarters of the world's largest breeding operation of thoroughbred racehorses. Through its racing arm, Ballydoyle, Coolmore also has raced many classic winners and champions. The operat ...

– Sheikh Mohammed not only paid a new highest price ever for a yearling, but the highest price for any thoroughbred ever sold at auction at that time.

Career

Snaafi Dancer never raced. It was reported that he was so slow in training that it would have been embarrassing to run him in public. He was retired to

stud Stud may refer to the following terms: Animals * Stud (animal), an animal retained for breeding ** Stud farm, a property where livestock are bred Arts and entertainment * Stud (band), a British progressive rock group * The Stud (bar), a gay ba ...

duty where he was discovered to have

fertility Fertility is the capability to produce offspring through reproduction following the onset of sexual maturity. The fertility rate is the average number of children born by a female during her lifetime and is quantified demographically. Fertili ...

problems. From two years of breeding, he sired only four foals, three of which raced with very limited success. Snaafi Dancer was last reported as being at a farm in

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

Pedigree

References

{{s-end 1982 racehorse births Racehorses bred in Kentucky Racehorses trained in the United Kingdom Thoroughbred family 6-a