Duck Dance was foaled on January 31st, 1967. He was bred by Jack Dreyfus and foaled on his storied Hobeau Farm near Ocala, Florida. Duck Dance was by Water Prince, a race-winning son of Beau Gar, the foundation stallion of the Dreyfus breeding program. Beau Gar sired many good runners including stakes winners Handsome Boy, Beaukins, Blessing Angelica and Garland of Roses. Water Prince was a full-brother to stakes winners Beau Purple and Red Gar. He sired several Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse race winners.
Classic Rhythm, the dam of Duck Dance, was by Hall of Fame racehorse Swoon’s Son. The bay grandson of Bull Dog won an impressive thirty races including the American Derby, Arlington Classic and Clark Handicap. Notably, Swoon’s Son sired Chris Evert, winner of the 1974 Filly Triple Crown. Classic Rhythm produced four foals for Dreyfus before she sold to Louisiana where she produced a black-type stakes winner named Sir Guy. She later sold back to Florida and produced her last foal, Princess Rhythm, at the age of 23 under the ownership of veterinarian Dr. William O. Reed, the breeder of Known Fact and Gone West. In total, Classic Rhythm produced ten race winners. Duck Dance was her most successful starter.
Duck Dance raced for his breeder under Hall of Fame trainer H. Allen Jerkens. He won his two-year-old debut, a maiden race at Aqueduct, by three lengths. At age three, Duck Dance won every race that he entered, including the six-furlong Toboggan Handicap over Master Hand and Jaikyl. Duck Dance had limited starts because he was notoriously unsound. He had regular layoffs at Hobeau Farms where he was rehabbed by Elmer Heubeck, the farm manager. John Shaw Jr., a Quarter Horse breeder from Jacksonville, Florida told Speedhorse Magazine this about Duck Dance: “He was an unsound horse and they kept him in training for three or four years with Allen Jerkens, the trainer for Dreyfuss. They would run him, and he would win a stakes, and then they would send him home for Elmer to fix him up and then send him back.”
Despite numerous setbacks, Duck Dance raced until he was five. As a four-year-old, he posted a three-length victory in the Vosburgh Handicap. He also won Allowance races at Aqueduct and Belmont, defeating Summer Air, Three Martinis, Away From Holme, and other noteworthy sprinters. In his final year of racing, he equaled the track record at Pimlico for six furlongs in the Old Line Handicap while carrying the top weight of 128 pounds. He also won the New Era Handicap and set a stakes record in the Paumonok Handicap. In total, Duck Dance made thirteen starts, won eleven races, and earned $156,237, the equivalent of about $1.2 million today.
When Duck Dance entered stud in 1973, he stood 15.2hh and weighed 1300 pounds. “He was just a short horse,” Shaw told Speedhorse. “He looked like the greatest Quarter Horse that you would ever want and he had all the Quarter Horse characteristics.” His quarter-type conformation generated interest from Quarter Horse breeders who wanted to purchase him, but Heubeck would not sell. Heubeck did, however, allow Quarter Horse mares to visit the stallion at Hobeau Farms. He would artificially inseminate the Quarter mares, which was less risky than the live cover required by the Thoroughbred registry.
Unsurprisingly, Duck Dance’s first foal crop was mainly Quarter Horses. It included Racing Register of Merit earners Feather My Nest, Call Me Duck and Dance Star. Jet Duck and Duck Dive, bay geldings foaled in 1976, were his first stakes winners. The Swooner, a 1981 sorrel stallion by Duck Dance, was his first graded stakes winner. He won the Gr. 2 Pompano Playland Futurity and the Gr. 2 Old South Futurity. The Swooner won a total of fourteen races and $233,001 on the track. Other early stakes winners by Duck Dance included Uncle Feather, Duck and Go, Mighty Duck, MS Spring Bouquet, Crinoline, Madam Duck, Beau Windy, The Widgeon and Hug a Duck.
Merganser, the best Quarter Horse starter by Duck Dance, was foaled in Florida in 1986. He was a chestnut stallion out of Hug Tiny, a daughter of Tiny’s Gay. He was purchased by Ronald Shalz and Jerry Wells for $9,000 at the 1987 Select Sale in Ruidoso, New Mexico. Merganser won his debut at Sunland Park and continued to win races under AQHA Hall of Fame trainer Jack Brooks. He won the Gr. 2 West Texas Futurity, Gr. 1 Sun County Futurity, Gr. 1 Rainbow Futurity and Gr. 1 All American Futurity. He was the 1988 High Money Earning Horse and was named the Champion Two-Year-Old Colt, Champion Two-Year-Old and World Champion Racing American Quarter Horse. At age three, Merganser placed fifth in the Gr. 1 Kansas Derby. He won the 1989 Derby Consolation, which was his final stakes win. He retired in 1990 with thirteen wins and $1,373,704 in earnings.
From 1991 to 2000, Merganser sired 246 Quarter Horse foals. They included 130 ROM-earners, 109 race winners, six stakes winners, five Superior Race Award earners, three Regional Champions and two World Champions. His offspring earned $1,888,222 on the track. Ducky Fred, the winningest racehorse by Merganser, won sixteen starts, six of which were graded stakes, and earned $366,172. Merganser also sired 28 Performance point-earners that collected 781.0 points in the arena. Miss Mergie, the 1996 AQHA Open World Champion Junior Barrel Racing horse, was by Merganser and out of a Thoroughbred mare named Really Tough. Merganser also sired the 2005 AQHA Open World Champion Pole Bending horse, The Money Merger.
Osceola Warrior, another great racehorse and sire by Duck Dance, was foaled the same year as Merganser. He won the Gr. 2 Old South Futurity and Gr. 2 Canterbury Park Futurity. He also set a new track record at Suwanee River Downs for 400 yards in 19.830 seconds in the Gr. 3 Florida Bred Futurity. In total, Osceola Warrior won fifteen races and earned $265,778 on the track. In his fifteen years at stud, Osceola Warrior sired 355 Quarter Horse foals. His best starter, War Colors, won five graded stakes races and earned $397,822 on the track. Altogether, Osceola Warrior offspring included 199 ROM earners, 173 winners, seventeen stakes winners, five Superior Race Award earners and one Regional Champion. Five of his foals earned a combined 61.0 points in the arena. Some of his offspring earned money in the Barrel Futurities of America and the National Reined Cow Horse Association.
Other Quarter Horse stakes winners by Duck Dance included The Migrator, Osceola Sweetheart, Race Car Red and Spitfire Bettie. Frans Dancer, a sorrel gelding by Duck Dance did not win any stakes races, but he was the 1994 East High Point Distance Horse. Track record setters by Duck Dance included Painted Princess, This Duckell Dance and Ducks N Rockets. She Can’t Miss, Chwesboken, The Drake, Dancing Laura, Smart Ocala Flyer, Dance On and Hurry to Dance were his best Thoroughbred starters. In 24 foal crops, Duck Dance sired 587 Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses. They included 345 race winners, 202 ROM-earners, 46 stakes finalists, nineteen stakes winners, sixteen Superior Race Award earners, one Regional Champion and one World Champion. Collectively, they earned $9,510,436 on the track.
In addition to racehorses, Duck Dance also sired performance horses. Go Sunny Duck, a sorrel gelding by Duck Dance, earned a Superior Barrel Racing award in 1990. He earned 110.0 performance points. Promised Dance, a chestnut gelding by Duck Dance, earned a Performance ROM and placed sixth in Pole Bending at the 1992 Youth World Show. Painted Princess, Duck Dancing Patches, Spirit Woman, JR Cold Duck, Duck Dude and Hesa Duck Dance earned Performance points. The Silversmith earned halter points. In total, horses by Duck Dance earned 148.0 points in the arena.
Merganser and Osceola Warrior were his most successful sons at stud. His next most prolific son, The Swooner, sired 66 AQHA registered foals. Other Quarter Horse sires by Duck Dance included Lookin Em Over, Secret Flight, Ceropsis, My Dandy Duck and Duck and Go. His Thoroughbred son Agile Shoebill sired Wigeon, an Appaloosa gelding that set a new track record at Remington Park for 880 yards in 45 seconds flat. His sons Swing Mary, Should Fly and Always Dancing also sired Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses.
Daughters of Duck Dance produced 815 Quarter Horse foals. They included 303 Racing ROM-earners, 279 race winners, 29 stakes winners, 22 Superior Race Award earners and six Regional Champions that earned $6,229,968 on the track. Drop of Golden Sun, a Thoroughbred mare by Duck Dance, produced Seals, the 1993 Texas High Point Three-Year-Old Gelding and AQHA Superior Race Horse. Seals won four stakes races and earned $263,744, which made him the winningest Quarter Horse out of a Duck Dance mare. Thoroughbred daughters of Duck Dance also produced graded stakes winners Spicy and Special and Seminole Injun. Power Train, a sorrel stallion by St Bar and out of MS Spring Bouquet, by Duck Dance, was the 1989 AQHA Racing Champion Two-Year-Old Colt. Other stakes winners out of Quarter Horse daughters of Duck Dance included Jet Dancing, Duck Dance Too, Hum For the Money, Power Train, Fitting Celebration, High On Madam, BCR Rubys Blurr, Dance De Kas, Beau Cashanova, Windy Perry, Real Easy Thornado and Lucks Got It.
In the arena, 51 Quarter Horses out of Duck Dance mares earned a combined 600.5 points. Mr Joe Im Kool, a sorrel stallion by Royal Quick Dash and out of Madam Duck, by Duck Dance, made fourteen starts and won two races before he started his performance career. As a performance horse, he earned titles of Grand Champion Stallion in 2006, AQHA Champion in 2007, and Supreme Champion in 2009. He also qualified for the AQHA World Show in Senior Heeling. Mr Joe Im Kool sired several Quarter Horses and Paints for Gerald L. Keesling in Florida.
Elmers Duck, a Quarter Horse mare by Duck Dance, produced numerous barrel racing money earners. Go Duck Lady, her first foal on record, earned a Performance ROM and qualified for the Junior Barrel Racing World Show. Red Elmers Duck, a sorrel gelding out of Elmers Duck, was a finalist at the 1999 OKC Futurity and he earned a Performance ROM. Elmers Duck was purchased by Victory Farms where she produced barrel racing money earners VF Chick Or Duck, VF Elmers Lil Sis, VF This Ducks Sailin, VF A Smokin Duck, VF A Golden Duck and VF Famous Duck.
Daisy Duck Bug, a brown mare by Shawne Bug and out of Our Duckling, by Duck Dance, earned a Superior Pole Bending award and placed at the World Show in Junior Pole Bending. Ever So Flashy, a bay gelding out of a Duck Dance mare, earned a Performance ROM and $1,074 in the National Snaffle Bit Association. Frosty Red Money, Frisco Duck, Go Fanta Go, Nonstops Intuition, Maximus Parr and The Dirty Ole Dance also earned Performance ROMs. Smoke House Brown, Jet N Dance, Run Duck Run and Panamas Fast As U contributed to the $56,861 that grandget of Duck Dance earned in the BFA.
Duck Dance died in 1997. His last foals were born that year. Some of his grandget are still competing today. Fast Dashin Sister, a 2012 mare out of Warriors Sister, by Duck Dance, entered AQHA recognized shows last year. Some of his well-known descendants include multiple graded stakes winner JLS Mr Bigtime, AQHA Champion Three-Year-Old Colt Brimmerton, and Pink Buckle stallion Blazin Honor.
The Western Thoroughbred 