Hall of Fame Inductee, 1995

Dance Smartly was destined to become Royalty in Racing from the time she was foaled. In fact, the bay daughter of Danzig, thus a granddaughter of Northern Dancer, out of champion Classy N Smart, was born with a star like marking on her forehead.

Dance Smartly's class began to emerge at two, when she won three of five races, including the Natalma Stakes, and was second once, in the Ontario Debutante Stakes, and third in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Belmont Park. The best was yet to come. In 1991, Dance Smartly's momentum began with victories in The Star Shoot and The Selene Stakes. She showed she was Canada's best three -year-old filly by easily winning The Canadian Oaks. Then she took the measure of the boys, romping to victory in the Queen's Plate at Woodbine and the Prince of Wales at Fort Erie. Then, with a $1 million dollar bonus on the line, Dance Smartly showed her versatility by winning the mile and one-half turf Breeders' Stakes.

She had thus become the first filly in Canadian racing history to win The Triple Crown.

Racing fans still hadn't seen the best from the filly from Ernie Samuel's Sam-Son Farm.

After humiliating the "boys" in the Triple Crown series, she took the measure of some of the best colts and geldings in North America in the Molson Export Million. The filly moved with disdainful ease on the final turn to assume control of the mile and one furlong classic and she went on to defeat a field which included Fly So Free, the previous season's champion two-year-old colt in North America.

Dance Smartly capped a perfect season at Churchill Downs, sashaying through the lane, under the long shadows of the Twin Spires, to become the first Canadian-bred to ever win a Breeders' Cup race. She won the Distaff by a widening length and one-half. The 8-for-8 earned Dance Smartly, brilliantly trained by Jim Day, a North American three-year-old filly championship, as well as Canada's Horse of the Year title and the three-year-old filly championship in Canada, too. Her bankroll for the year amounted to $2,876,821.

After four races at four, Dance Smartly retired as the number one money-winning filly or mare in the world. Her earnings totalled $3,263,835. In August, 2003, Dance Smartly was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame at Saratoga, N.Y.