NORSE Dancer (by Halling) did not win as many races as a horse of his obvious talent could have been expected to do and he retired to stud as a dual Group 3 scorer, successful in just four of 35 starts.
This is a horse who was a one-length third behind Refuse To Bend in the 2000 Guineas, a two and a half length fourth behind Kris Kin in the Derby, and whose Group 1 defeats in the Sussex Stakes, Lockinge Stakes, Juddmonte International Stakes and Irish Champion Stakes were all by margins of less than a length.
When he chased home the one and a quarter-length winner Azamour in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes, that year run at Newbury, he had the previous year’s Arc hero Bago a short-head behind in third, the trio finishing five lengths clear of their closest pursuer.
Norse Dancer began his stallion career at Littleton Stud, spent two years at Wood Farm Stud, then returned to Littleton for four seasons before joining the team at Yorton Farm Stud in 2014.
He has not had many runners for a horse who has six crops of racing age – his seventh one only turned two last month – but he has been responsible for the Group 1-placed Group 2 scorer Norse King and the pattern-placed stakes winners Dorcas Lane and Norse Prize.
Under National Hunt rules he has had the multiple hurdles scorers Nordic Nymph, Leaderofthedance, Rocky Rebel and Norse Light, the latter’s more recent success coming at Leicester 11 days ago.
His standout jumper, however, is the Alan King-trained six-year-old Yanworth, a third-crop son whom Wood Farm Stud bred and who extended his unbeaten record to four with a seven-length score in the Grade 2 Neptune Investment Management Novices’ Hurdle (registered as Classic Novices’ Hurdle) over two miles, four and a half furlongs at Cheltenham on Saturday.
In December the chesnut was a Grade 2 winner at Ascot, and before he turned his attention to racing over obstacles he was a leading bumper horse who won his first two starts, was runner-up in a listed contest at Ascot, and finished fourth behind Moon Racer in the Grade 1 Champion Bumper at Cheltenham.
Success at the highest level looks likely for this rising star.
Yanworth is the best of several winners out of Yota (by Galetto), a flat and hurdles scorer from a prolific blacktype family.
His half-brother Grand Lahou (by Cyborg) has won three over hurdles, three over fences and been successful in a point-to-point. Trust Thomas (by Erhaab) and Kwanza (by Lost World) have won twice apiece, and their half-sister Taffetas (by Nikos) won once, also over jumps.
Yota is among an impressive tally of 10 winners from a dozen foals for the one-time jumps scorer Junta (by Cariellor) and the most prolific of the siblings is Jarro (by Pistolet Bleu).
He won twice on the flat in France, was a Grade 3-placed dual hurdles scorer in that country, and then joined the Venetia Williams stables before adding six wins over fences.
His full-brother Azulejo won eight times over obstacles in France including blacktype hurdle and chase events at Auteuil and also the Grand Steeplechase de Lyon, a race in which his full-sister Loucessita, a six-times scorer, was placed.
Juntico (by Robin Des Champs) won the Grade 3 Prix Juigne Hurdle over two and a quarter miles at Auteuil, and the youngest of the siblings is Jeune Lune (by Lavirco) who scored by 12 lengths at that same venue as a juvenile hurdler.
The third dam of Yanworth also has an excellent strike-rate as dual flat scorer Just Abroad (by Abwah) came up with seven winners from nine foals, headed by the Group 2-placed Fast Board (by Fast Topaze) and by the filly Garula (by Galetto) who was listed-placed at Auteuil.
The seven also include Fautine (by Fast Topaze) who won once over jumps in France before becoming the dam of four winners, including the dual hurdles and triple chase scorer Free World (by Lost World).
He was last seen in action at Southwell two months ago and his handicap mark has dropped down to double digits, but at his peak he was placed in the Grade 2 Henry VIII Novices’ Chase, in the Grade 2 Lightning Novices’ Chase and in the Grade 2 Kingmaker Novices’ Chase.
His half-sister Latran (by Pistolet Bleu) got her blacktype when runner-up in a pair of Grade 3 chases at Auteuil and that eight-times scorer then went on to become a success at stud.
Her first two foals are daughters of the ace dual-purpose sire Poliglote (by Sadler’s Wells), one of whom is a winner, and they are followed by the blacktype trio Land Baron (by Lando), La Garde Royale (by Kapgarde) and Laterano (by Saint Des Saints).
Land Baron’s five wins under National Hunt rules include a listed hurdle event at Pau, La Garde Royale won three and was both listed and Grade 3-placed over fences at Auteuil, and the best of Laterano’s seven are the Grade 2 Prix Jean Stern Chase and the Grade 3 Prix Duc d’Anjou Chase, both at Auteuil.
All of this shows Yanworth to be an exciting young horse with a strong National Hunt pedigree, but if you go back one more generation you find horses of quite different talent.
His fourth dam is Seventh Bride (by Royal Record II), winner of the Princess Royal Stakes and Fifinella Stakes, runner-up in the Nassau Stakes, and dam of both the 1974 Group 1 Oaks heroine Polygamy (by Reform) and of One Over Parr (by Reform), winner of the Group 3 Cheshire Oaks and Group 3 Lancashire Oaks.
That filly then became the dam of the prolific pattern scorer Tom Seymour (by Grundy) and her descendants include 2000 Guineas and dual Derby hero Camelot (by Montjeu) and also Fireglow (by Teofilo), the classic-entered Mark Johnston-trained filly who was narrowly beaten in a pair of Group 3 events last summer and finished off her first season with a four-length listed race success at Newmarket.