Once upon a time breeders agonized over the merits of in-breeding to Danzig and the ‘double Danzig’ was seen as being every bit as problematic as the ‘double Danehill’ dilemma dealt with by our modern day breeders, so some insight into Danzig from his former work rider back in the day may hold interest.
A Pedigrees 360 user, Phil Gleaves was a track jockey for Woody Stephens in the late 70s, and he often rode Danzig in work.
Gleaves recalls: Danzig was broken in at Aiken, South Carolina during the winter of 78-79 by Woody's brother Bill - a top trainer in his own right- and he joined the main string at Belmont Park in the Spring of 1979.
He was a smallish colt but came in with a big reputation from Bill and his subsequent breezes confirmed that.
He won his first start under a not so well-known jockey in Joe Brocklebank, who had been working with him in the mornings. Woody loved to bet and thought putting Joe up would garner a better price on race day.
On June 25th,1979, he made his debut winning with ease while running a very fast time. He survived a Steward's Enquiry, but came out of the race injured and a fracture in his knee was discovered.
He had surgery for the knee and after the requisite rest he was allowed to start swimming.
He resumed training going into the winter of 79-80 and that's when I became his regular exercise rider. He was a kind horse to ride, nothing quirky about him and very straight forward. His workouts resumed and were spectacular.
He was always on the bridle no matter how fast he was going. His first race at two had been at the 5,1/2-furlong distance and for his three-year-old debut Woody pointed him towards a race going 6f, again on dirt on May 14th, 1980.
Under stable jockey Eddie Maple he once again toyed with his competition winning very easily.
Knowing of his initial injury we did a lot of therapeutic work on him and after training he was hosed every day and poulticed.
Woody picked out his next race at 7f on dirt for May 31st, 1980. Another easy win had Woody thinking it was time for bigger things-Group races.
He continued to train very well. One morning Woody had me work him 1 mile. My instructions were to ease away from the starting pole and allow Danzig to finish up strongly. He went 52 secs for the first 1/2 ml and 46 secs for the last 1/2 mile for a 1:38 secs mile time.
Woody, the official clockers, and myself on his back, were blown away by his ability to finish his work as fast as he did. As fortune would have it, he was becoming increasingly unsound after his workouts. X-rays showed his career as a racehorse had to come to a close.
Woody called his very good friend Seth Hancock about standing him at Claiborne Farm. Seth was hesitant, but Woody convinced him that Danzig was a special talent that deserved to be bred to the best mares he could get. He reminded Seth that Danzig had never been passed by any horse, at any pole, in any race.
He was syndicated at a minimal price, but not all shares were sold. His owner, Henryk de Kwiatkowski, was "stuck" holding more shares than he wanted. The rest, as they say, is history as he has become a huge Global influence and carries on that great Nearco line.
The Danzig sireline has had a profound influence in Australia through his champion sire sons Danehill and Green Desert with I Am Invincible (grand-son of Green Desert) the reigning champion Australian sire and Redoute’s Choice (son of Danehill) the reigning champion broodmare sire.
