Dancing Brave, owned by Prince Khalid
Abdulla and trained by Guy Harwood, was officially the second highest
rated horse on the Flat since official international figures were
first published in 1977. Only Frankel was rated higher and, even
then, only after a “historical recalibration” of the rankings in
2013, which downgraded Dancing Brave from 141 to 138.
During his career, Dancing Brave won
eight of his 10 races, including the 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket, the
Eclipse Stakes at Sandown, the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth
Stakes at Ascot and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp, and
was named European Horse of the Year for 1986.
An unimposing son of Lyphard, Dancing
Brave made his racecourse debut in the Dorking Stakes at Sandown in
1985, which he won convincingly. Guy Harwood later recalled, “[Stable
jockey] Greville Starkey got off and said, ‘This horse is my Derby
ride.’” Dancing Brave followed up, in similar style, in the Soham
House Stakes at Newmarket, and went into winter quarters as favourite
for the 2,000 Guineas.
On his reappearance, he started
favourite for the Craven Stakes at Newmarket, which he won
emphatically. On his return to Newmarket for the 2,000 Guineas, he
came with a powerful run going down into ‘the Dip’ and quickened
clear in the closing stages to beat Green Desert by 3 lengths, with
jockey Greville Starkey looking around for non-existent dangers.
His subsequent defeat by Shahrastani in
the Derby, in which Starkey gave him far too much to do, has been
well chronicled elsewhere, but his finest hour came at Longchamp on
October 5, 1986. Sent off favourite, once again, for the Prix de
l’Arc de Triomphe, he was switched off at the rear of the field by
Pat Eddery before being asked for maximum effort in the final
furlong-and-a-half. Delivering his challenge wide, late and fast,
Dancing Brave passed a dozen rivals – including Bering, Triptych
and Sharastani – in the final furlong to win by 1½ lengths.
Commentator Graham Goode said afterwards, “Pat Eddery has never
ridden a better race.”
