Dance Smartly, the new female Thoroughbred Hall of Famer, was bred in Canada by the late Ernie Samuel and raced for his Sam-Son Farm. The other finalists in the category this year were Flawlessly and Sky Beauty. She became the only filly to sweep Canada's Triple Crown, taking the Queen's Plate, Prince of Wales Stakes, and Breeders' Stakes of 1991 by a combined margin of 18 lengths. She ratified her ability to defeat top-ranked males by beating Fly So Free in the Grade 2 Molson Export Million, and then climaxed her 3-year-old season by defeating champion Queena in the Breeders' Cup Distaff at Churchill Downs.
Dance Smartly had also won the Canadian Oaks in her unbeaten season of eight victories for trainer Jim Day, and she was named the Eclipse Award winner in the 3-year-old filly category as well as being named Horse of the Year in Canada. The daughter of Danzig-Classy 'n Smart, by Smarten, had a career record of 12 wins in 17 starts over three seasons. Her earnings of $3,263,836 stood at the time as the all-time record for a filly or mare in North America. In 1995 she was inducted into the Canadian Racing Hall of Fame. She went on to foal two Queen's Plate winners, 2000 winner Scatter the Gold and 2001 winner, the filly Dancethruthedawn who also won the Go For Wand Handicap at Saratoga as a four year old. Both her Plate winners were sired by Mr. Prospector. Precisionist, voted into the Hall of Fame in the male Thoroughbred category, was bred in Florida by the late Fred W. Hooper, and raced for him throughout a long career. The other nominees were Ancient Title and Manila.
Although he was voted champion sprinter after winning the Breeders' Cup Sprint of 1985, Precisionist was an unusually versatile horse. His five other grade I wins were at distances ranging from one mile to 1 1/4 miles. He was one of five horses to sweep the Charles H. Strub Series in California, and his East Coast victories included the Woodward Stakes as well as his Breeders' Cup triumph at Aqueduct. Precisionist was found to be virtually sterile after his retirement to stud, and he returned to the races to win additional stakes at seven. The Florida-bred son of Crozier-Excellently, by Forli, had a career record of 20 wins in 46 races and earnings of $3,485,398. He was trained by Ross Fenstermaker and then by John W. Russell and Bill Donovan in his comeback.
