Kentucky Derby - all horses had Polynesian blood

Here is a fascinating tidbit I learned. Every horse entered in last week's Kentucky Derby was a descendent of a horse named Native Dancer. In fact, the last 14 Kentucky Derby winners were a descendent of Native Dancer.

And who was Native Dancer's father? A horse named Polynesian, who won the Preakness Stakes (one of the Triple Crown races) in 1945. That was 3 years before the musical South Pacific premiered on Broadway.

Polynesian got together with a horse named Geisha, and together they created Native Dancer, and the sport of throughbred racing has never been the same.

Polynesian was also the grandsire of the 1966 Kentucky Derby, a horse named Kauai King.

The most valuable stud is a descendent of the above horses - the mating fee is $300,000.

The above information, and more, can be found in the following article ......
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB120968356843561083-tMOh6md5tsfD_6m4voaXNyFGS0M_20080601.html?