Native Dancer (Racing's Great "Gray Ghost")

Known as "The Gray Ghost" because of his color and his amazing ability on the racetrack, Native Dancer won all but one of his twenty-two starts. His lone loss came in the 1953 Kentucky Derby, when he was upset by Dark Star. Native Dancer went on to win the Preakness and Belmont Stakes. But his brilliance was evident even at age two, when he won all nine of his starts and was named co-Horse of the Year, an honor not bestowed on a two-year-old horse again until twenty years later, when Secretariat was named Horse of the Year in 1972. Boyd also examines the human connections in Native Dancer's story, including owner Alfred Vanderbilt, trainer William C. Winfrey, and jockeys Eddie Arcaro and Eric Guerin.