Immortals of the Turf ~ 'Dancing Brave'

Dancing Brave's lad insisted he had a perfect temperament

The next logical step for the colt was the Derby. As tradition demands, there were the inevitable questions raised by the media as to whether his American pedigree would enable him to shine over the extra half mile at Epsom. By the brilliant Lyphard and out of a mare by Drone (a notable sire of sprinters), on pedigree at least he was not guaranteed to stay - but then, nor are about 80% of Derby runners! Year after year the arguments rage, only being stilled on the day in question. Despite his dubious pedigree, Dancing Brave had other factors in his favour. Firstly, he had a wonderful temperament. His lad, Brian Graham, said he was the easiest and most placid horse he ever looked after and he had already shown his willingness to settle anywhere in the field until asked to quicken. Such an amenable disposition augured well for the unique demands made on highly trained racehorses by Epsom - the crowds, the noise and the rollercoaster racecourse always render some runners unable to produce their best. To get a good position in the race is everything, ideally just off the pace, one or two horses off the rail. Lester Piggott mastered this better than any other jockey of his time which resulted in a record 9 victories, but even horses he didn't win on were given every chance to do so if good enough.

Pat Eddery, who was later so successful on Dancing Brave, first rode the horse at Pulborough and commented that he was 'such a lovely, well-balanced horse, with a real touch of class'. With regard to balance, temperament and the ability to quicken, Dancing Brave had all these qualities - the only question was 'would he stay?' Looking back on his 2-year-old days it was obvious that his connections believed that he would. After all, two-year-olds don't usually run exclusively in mile races if they are not expected to make up into middle distance horses at the age of three.

The actual running of Dancing Brave in the Derby therefore remains a mystery to the outside world. We do not know whether Greville Starkey was riding to orders when he settled the horse right near the back of the field of 17 runners. As the field descended Tattenham Corner and turned for home, Dancing Brave had only two horses behind him! What followed was simply incredible. Having to make his run up the outside of the other runners (thus travelling further) he started to accelerate, passing horse after horse, leaving him to pursue Sharastani in the final furlong. Eating up the ground at every stride he failed by a rapidly diminishing half length.

Dancing Brave covered the penultimate furlong in an astonishing 10.36 seconds which is still the fastest time ever clocked for that stage of the Derby. Normally 11 seconds would be considered very fast and around 12 seconds would be the median time. The fact that despite his exceptional speed Dancing Brave still just failed to catch Sharastani confirms that he had been set an impossible task in the straight. There was no question of him not staying the distance the irony being that had the race been just a little further he would have won!

Mashkour was third and Kentucky Derby fourth, Bold Arrangement was back in sixth place. Sharastani (by Nijinsky) was unquestionably a very good horse. He had begun the year by winning the Guardian Classic Trial at Sandown, followed by the Mecca-Dante Stakes at York - both recognised Derby trials. After Epsom he went to Ireland and won another Derby - this time unchallenged, by eight lengths. Although it was to be Dancing Brave's year, Sharastani provided him with some serious opposition.

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