Native Dancer: The Grey Ghost: Hero of a Golden Age

Rating:
Summary: "Racing¿s original pop star, the equine Elvis Presley."
Review: In 1953, Native Dancer, a grey, 3-year-old racehorse bred and owned by Alfred Vanderbilt, captured the hearts and imagination of America and was declared "one of the three most popular figures in the country," along with TV personalities Arthur Godfrey and Ed Sullivan. Winning an incredible twenty-one of his twenty-two races, he was only a few inches away from having a perfect record, losing that one race "by a nose." Horse of the Year in 1954, Native Dancer was an unprecedented choice to grace the cover of Time magazine in May, 1954, just before he retired from racing as a four-year-old.

Author John Eisenberg reports here on the horse, the stable, and all the individuals who were part of his illustrious career, explaining the circumstances which made Native Dancer the darling of the country. Seen by more race fans than any other racehorse in history, thanks to America's recent discovery of the joys of television, he stood out visually from the pack and became "America's first matinee idol." When he began racing in 1952, World War II had been over for only a few years, and the fifties were a decade in which "institutions were to be admired, not challenged." Americans "saw their country as wealthy and invincible," and Native Dancer became a symbol of this power. He was, in fact, so big and so powerful that when he ran, "you could draw a horizontal straight line from his airborne back feet to the tips of his forelegs," his stride measuring an incredible twenty-nine feet.

Having thoroughly researched every conceivable aspect of his story, Eisenberg writes with the journalistic brio of a true lover of horse-racing, and makes the horse, his stupendous bursts of speed out of the pack in the final seconds of his races, and the people surrounding him live again. Through newspaper accounts, photographs, step-by-step reconstructions of the races, interviews with the participants and their heirs, and personal stories by people who remember the horse and his quirks, he turns back the clock to a simpler era and recreates the spirit of the fifties when all the world looked bright. Though Native Dancer was never as lovable as Seabiscuit (and, in fact, once bit off the finger of someone he did not trust), he was a huge and positive presence, an immensely powerful racer who had a tremendous desire to win and the intelligence to know how hard he had to work to accomplish that win. Mary Whipple

Rating:
Summary: "Racing¿s original pop star, the equine Elvis Presley."
Review: In 1953, Native Dancer, a grey, 3-year-old racehorse bred and owned by Alfred Vanderbilt, captured the hearts and imagination of America and was declared "one of the three most popular figures in the country," along with TV personalities Arthur Godfrey and Ed Sullivan. Winning an incredible twenty-one of his twenty-two races, he was only a few inches away from having a perfect record, losing that one race "by a nose." Horse of the Year in 1954, Native Dancer was an unprecedented choice to grace the cover of Time magazine in May, 1954, just before he retired from racing as a four-year-old.

Author John Eisenberg reports here on the horse, the stable, and all the individuals who were part of his illustrious career, explaining the circumstances which made Native Dancer the darling of the country. Seen by more race fans than any other racehorse in history, thanks to America's recent discovery of the joys of television, he stood out visually from the pack and became "America's first matinee idol." When he began racing in 1952, World War II had been over for only a few years, and the fifties were a decade in which "institutions were to be admired, not challenged." Americans "saw their country as wealthy and invincible," and Native Dancer became a symbol of this power. He was, in fact, so big and so powerful that when he ran, "you could draw a horizontal straight line from his airborne back feet to the tips of his forelegs," his stride measuring an incredible twenty-nine feet.

Having thoroughly researched every conceivable aspect of his story, Eisenberg writes with the journalistic brio of a true lover of horse-racing, and makes the horse, his stupendous bursts of speed out of the pack in the final seconds of his races, and the people surrounding him live again. Through newspaper accounts, photographs, step-by-step reconstructions of the races, interviews with the participants and their heirs, and personal stories by people who remember the horse and his quirks, he turns back the clock to a simpler era and recreates the spirit of the fifties when all the world looked bright. Though Native Dancer was never as lovable as Seabiscuit (and, in fact, once bit off the finger of someone he did not trust), he was a huge and positive presence, an immensely powerful racer who had a tremendous desire to win and the intelligence to know how hard he had to work to accomplish that win. Mary Whipple

Rating:
Summary: Good. Not great, but good.
Review: John Eisenberg, Native Dancer (Warner, 2003)

For the last few years, a series of horse biographies has been coming out. Seabiscuit: An American Legend is, of course, the best-known of them, but a number of others deserve the same recognition. John Eisenberg has written a book about Native Dancer, who lost the 1953 triple crown when missing the Derby by inches, the sole defeat of his twenty-two race career. Brilliant on the track and off, Native Dancer was one of the century's finest racehorses, and his story deserves just as much recognition as Seabiscuit's.

Eisenberg is, for the most part, up to the task. With the exception of a few weaknesses (the opening chapter reads like the beginning of a report written for fifth grade, and Eisenberg spends a bit too much time talking about the human connections rather than the horse), Native Dancer is a solid, steady read. It's not as compelling as Farley's biography of Man o' War (which still today sets the standard for equine biographies), nor is it as comprehensive as Hillenbrand's bestseller, but for all that it's still a look into the life of a wonderful horse who showed true greatness at the perfect time in history: the dawn of the television age.

A worthwhile book, well worth reading for both serious and casual fans of the sport. *** ½

Rating:
Summary: pretty good
Review: not as brilliant as nack's secretariat, the best sports bio ever written...but definitely not as uselessly poor as 'horse of a different color' by village idiot squires, or 'three strides before the wire' by mitchell, or 'citation' by georgeff.
the author doesn't get too in-depth of the life of native dancer, which i suppose is a problem with any book written years after the events took place (this is a particularly bad problem in the citation book). the author seems to continually re-introduce doubt about the superiority of native dancer, by writing what others have opined, namely that native dancer didn't often win crushingly by many lengths (like secretariat's belmont) and that he seemed to have a worrying tendency to pull up once he was ahead in the stretch. but all in all, this is a fine bio on a fabulous racehorse with only one loss in a magnificent career (the second-best gray horse ever (no.1 the wonderhorse spectacular bid)).

Rating:
Summary: Appropriate subtitle . . .
Review: This is a well-written story of a great horse, but the story is more than just the horse itelf. The author does a fine job of providing insight and understanding into the cutural forces that shaped America and American horse racing during the time of Native Dancer's reign. Throughout the book, the author provides a contextual backdrop from which the reader can view the accomplishments of this great horse. Granted, the storyline is not as fairy-tale and movie-ready as Seabiscuit, but the accomplishments of the horse make this one fine read. What hinders the author is the timing of Native Dancer's solo loss. What saves the book is how the author keeps the reader's interest for the rest of the [post-loss] narrative. I am not a student of the horses, but this book was one I had a hard time putting down.

Rating:
Summary: A Nice Telling of the Story of the Equine Hero of the 50's
Review: With the success of the book "Seabiscuit" by Laura Hillenbrand, more books are being issued of some of the great thoroughbred race horses of the 20th century. John Eisenberg, a newspaper journalist from Baltimore, has written a very good biography of Native Dancer, who was the first horse racing hero in the television age. Native Dancer was a huge gray colt who won all but one race in his career, but the race he lost was the biggest one of all, the Kentucky Derby in 1953.

Eisenberg tells the story of Native Dancer similarly to the way Hillenbrand told her story, focusing on the owner, trainer and jockey while weaving it with the personality of the horse and tying it in with the theme of the era (depression in Hillenbrand's case, the discovery of television in the Dancer's case).

The only criticisms are minor. His focus on Native Dancer's loss to Dark Star in the '53 Derby happens in the middle of the book and is so well written that the rest of the book basically pales in comparison. Whether it is fair or not, Native Dancer is famous because of his one loss, so the victories he had after that (including the final two jewels of the Triple Crown) just don't come off as very important.

But this book gave me a great appreciation of Native Dancer. I don't think we'll see a movie of his life like we will with Seabiscuit, but I do hope we'll see more horse racing books from Mr. Eisenberg in the future (he has another that is even better called "The Longest Shot" about 1992 Derby winner Lil E. Tee).

Rating:
Summary: pretty good
Review: With the success of the book "Seabiscuit" by Laura Hillenbrand, more books are being issued of some of the great thoroughbred race horses of the 20th century. John Eisenberg, a newspaper journalist from Baltimore, has written a very good biography of Native Dancer, who was the first horse racing hero in the television age. Native Dancer was a huge gray colt who won all but one race in his career, but the race he lost was the biggest one of all, the Kentucky Derby in 1953.

Eisenberg tells the story of Native Dancer similarly to the way Hillenbrand told her story, focusing on the owner, trainer and jockey while weaving it with the personality of the horse and tying it in with the theme of the era (depression in Hillenbrand's case, the discovery of television in the Dancer's case).

The only criticisms are minor. His focus on Native Dancer's loss to Dark Star in the '53 Derby happens in the middle of the book and is so well written that the rest of the book basically pales in comparison. Whether it is fair or not, Native Dancer is famous because of his one loss, so the victories he had after that (including the final two jewels of the Triple Crown) just don't come off as very important.

But this book gave me a great appreciation of Native Dancer. I don't think we'll see a movie of his life like we will with Seabiscuit, but I do hope we'll see more horse racing books from Mr. Eisenberg in the future (he has another that is even better called "The Longest Shot" about 1992 Derby winner Lil E. Tee).

Rating:
Summary: A Nice Telling of the Story of the Equine Hero of the 50's
Review: With the success of the book "Seabiscuit" by Laura Hillenbrand, more books are being issued of some of the great thoroughbred race horses of the 20th century. John Eisenberg, a newspaper journalist from Baltimore, has written a very good biography of Native Dancer, who was the first horse racing hero in the television age. Native Dancer was a huge gray colt who won all but one race in his career, but the race he lost was the biggest one of all, the Kentucky Derby in 1953.

Eisenberg tells the story of Native Dancer similarly to the way Hillenbrand told her story, focusing on the owner, trainer and jockey while weaving it with the personality of the horse and tying it in with the theme of the era (depression in Hillenbrand's case, the discovery of television in the Dancer's case).

The only criticisms are minor. His focus on Native Dancer's loss to Dark Star in the '53 Derby happens in the middle of the book and is so well written that the rest of the book basically pales in comparison. Whether it is fair or not, Native Dancer is famous because of his one loss, so the victories he had after that (including the final two jewels of the Triple Crown) just don't come off as very important.

But this book gave me a great appreciation of Native Dancer. I don't think we'll see a movie of his life like we will with Seabiscuit, but I do hope we'll see more horse racing books from Mr. Eisenberg in the future (he has another that is even better called "The Longest Shot" about 1992 Derby winner Lil E. Tee).