Thoroughbred
There has never been a filly in the Queen’s Plate boasting the blueblood in her pedigree that Dancethruthedawn possessed as she prepared for the 142nd running of this historic race. Her mother was Dance Smartly, the Eclipse Award, Breeders’ Cup and Canadian Triple Crown champion. She had won the Plate ten years earlier. Dancethruthedawn’s full-brother Scatter the Gold had won the Plate a year earlier and it seemed that it was pre-ordained that the dazzling little filly by Mr. Prospector would capture the Plate for owner and breeders Sam-Son Farm. It would be the first time siblings had won back-to-back Plates.
Trainer Mark Frostad didn’t rush the filly to the races as a two-year-old. She made her first start in August and was fourth, beaten by more than ten lengths. That race, said, Frostad “was a throwout. She never focused on running at all.” Dancethruthedawn broke her maiden in her next start but was third in the Gr. 1 Mazarine before winning the Princess Elizabeth Stakes.
Like her mother, Dancethruthedawn won the Canadian Oaks and was made the 9-to-5 favorite over a formidable foe, Win City. Under jockey Gary Boulanger she surged to the lead in the backstretch and sped home a half-length in front of Win City, who would reverse the order of finish in the Prince of Wales Stakes. The back-to-back wins in the Oaks and the Plate followed the filly’s earlier disappointing finish in the Kentucky Oaks when she acted up at the gate, was bumped, shuffled back and suffered a cut on her hind leg. She had opened the season with an allowance race win at Keeneland, Ky. After her wins in Canada she was shipped to Saratoga for the Gr. 1 Alabama, finishing fourth behind champion Flute. Her success contributed to her being presented a Sovereign Award as Canada’s champion three-year-old filly in 2001.
At age four Dancethruthedawn campaigned in the U.S., winning the Go For Wand Stakes at Saratoga, N.Y., and the Doubledogdare Stakes at Keeneland, Ky. She lost by a head to Summer Colony in the Pimlico B.C. Distaff Handicap, finished third to Spain in the Fleur de Lys Stakes at Churchill Downs, Ky., and was third in the Gr. 1 Personal Ensign Handicap at Saratoga. A contender for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Arlington Park in Chicago, Dancethruthedawn suffered a leg injury in the Gr. 1 Spinster Stakes at Keeneland and was retired to the broodmare barn.
Dancethruthedawn won $1.6 million during her career, winning seven of 16 races with two seconds and three third.