Sword Dance, one of Florida’s leading sires for a number of years,
died Nov. 1 of natural causes at Gilbert and Marilyn Campbell’s
Stonehedge Farm South near Williston, Fla. The Irish-bred son of
Nijinsky II was pensioned in 2004. He was 26.
Sword Dance was a multiple winner in Ireland and the United States,
taking the 1988 Del Mar Handicap (gr. IIT) over subsequent Breeders’
Cup Turf (gr. IT) winner Great Communicator.
As a stallion, Sword Dance is represented by 23 stakes winners and
the earners of more than $26.4 million. He sired grade I winner Marlin,
grade II winners Blazing Sword and Dance for Thee, and grade III winner
Friel’s for Real. Marlin, one of the nation’s leading turf runners in
1996-97, won four grade I stakes, including the 1997 Arlington Million
Stakes (gr. IT), and earned $2,448,880.
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