Norcliffe

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Norcliffe
Sire Buckpasser
Grandsire Tom Fool
Dam Drama School
Damsire Northern Dancer
Sex Stallion
Foaled 1973
Country Canada Flag of Canada
Colour Bay
Breeder E. P. Taylor
Owner Norcliffe Stable
Trainer Roger Attfield
Record 33: 14-8-3
Earnings $434,066
Major Racing Wins, Awards and Honours
Major Racing Wins
Coronation Futurity Stakes (1975)
Plate Trial Stakes (1976)
Queen's Plate (1976)
Prince of Wales Stakes (1976)
Carling O'Keefe Invitational Handicap (1976, 1977)
Colonel R. S. McLaughlin Handicap (1976)
Canadian Maturity Stakes (1977)
Racing Awards
Canadian Champion 3-Yr-Old Colt (1976)
Canadian Horse of the Year (1976)
Canadian Champion Older Male Horse (1977)
Honours
Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame (2005)
Infobox last updated on: September 17, 2006.

Norcliffe (1973-1984) was a Canadian Thoroughbred racehorse. He was sired by U.S. Hall of Fame Champion Buckpasser out of the mare Drama School by Northern Dancer.

Owned by Charles Baker's Norcliffe Stable, he was trained by Roger Attfield. Ridden by jockey Jeff Fell, Norcliffe won two of the first three legs of the 1976 Canadian Triple Crown races on dirt at Woodbine Racetrack, capturing the Queen's Plate and the Prince of Wales Stakes. However, in the final leg, run on the grass at Fort Erie Race Track, Norcliffe finished fifth. Norcliffe earned 1976 Horse of the Year honors in Canada and was elected to the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame in 2005.

[edit] As a sire

Retired to stud at the end of the 1977 racing season, Norcliffe was North America's leading juvenile sire by number of wins and second in earnings in 1981. He sired Groovy who was voted the 1987 Eclipse Award for American Champion Sprint Horse and who was a Texas State Champion twice. Norcliffe is also the grandsire of Lil E. Tee, the 1992 Kentucky Derby winner.