Danse Macabre Hands Co-Owners First Graded Stakes Win

Steve and Denise Smith of Elements Racing along with John Ballantyne of NBS Stable are spending the remainder of their weekend relishing in the gutsy victory by their 3-year-old filly Danse Macabre  in the Herecomesthebride Stakes (G3T) March 4 at Gulfstream Park.

Having only established their business at the end of 2020 which includes a 75-acre breeding operation—Mesingw Farm in Lexington—Saturday's win gave the Smiths their first win at the level.

For Steve, it marked an accomplishment that he has sought for many years after first being introduced to racing in 1984. After a 20-year hiatus from the industry, he says he feels fortunate to have had such early success since returning, especially with this filly who was only a $55,000 purchase for him and Ballantyne from Tom McCrocklin's consignment to the 2022 Ocala Breeders' Sales Company March Sale of Two-Year-Olds in Training.

"(We're) lucky, very lucky. To have a filly like her where you pick her out of the 2-year-old sale for $55,000, you don't just do that every day," Steve Smith said. "There are people in the industry that throughout their entire life probably don't do that. We've been blessed, and we know it."

Ballantyne, who campaigns horses under his name in numerous partnerships along with the NBS banner including grade 3 winner Spooky Channel , recalls the serendipity of his involvement in taking the daughter of Army Mule   home early last year.

"She was somewhat of an afterthought. It was (trainer) Kelsey Danner. We'd seen a lot of horses and she was talking to Tom McCrocklin and he said she was one that was being overlooked," Ballantyne said. "It all came together very quickly and Kelsey contacted me and said, 'The Elements people and I like this filly, would you be interested in going in?'

"I thought that at that price point and even though it was a brief career, I liked Army Mule so I thought, 'sure, yeah.' There are some other ones I can say that I was absolutely tied into the process of acquiring but this one was happenstance. Really the credit goes to Kelsey and Elements."

The filly began her career at Churchill Downs under Danner's tutelage in June of 2022 with a runner-up finish in a maiden special weight going five furlongs on the dirt. She moved to grass for her next start a month later at Colonial Downs where she broke her maiden with ease, finishing the five and a half furlongs three lengths in front of nine challengers.

She next stepped into stakes company at Saratoga Race Course in August, finishing second behind Love Reigns  in the Bolton Landing Stakes before a redemption run in the Sept. 13 Untapable Stakes at Kentucky Downs where she clinched the victory by a nose with jockey Adam Beschizza back aboard for the first time since her debut. A third in the Oct. 8 Matron Stakes (G3T) at Belmont At the Big A closed out her juvenile year.

"Coming out of the Matron after she won the Untapable, there was discussion about the Breeders' Cup but that would've been against the boys," Smith said. "We said, 'Look, she's been through the ringer, those are tough sales to go through as a 2-year-old in training.' We knew we had a talented filly and we wanted to protect her so we gave her some time off and see what she does as a 3-year-old. That's how we ended up where we ended up."

WATCH: Smith on Danse Macabre's Herecomesthebride Triumph

Though the Herecomesthebride would end up being the filly's first try at two turns with the additional pressure of running off of a layoff, it was the right time to test her capabilities. 

"You look at the pedigree of Army Mule and the grandsire Friesan Fire, it's all sprinting," Smith said. "With the Blame side and (her dam) Sylphide kind of gives you a little bit of hope. Kelsey was actually an exercise rider for Sylphide so she knew her very well. It was a big discussion between our trainer, our partner, and at the end of the day she's a gutsy filly and never been off the board so we thought we would find out what she's made of."

Danse Macabre certainly answered the call Saturday at the Hallendale Beach oval, holding off Papilio , Cairo Consort , and Revalita  in a frenzy down the stretch to add the win to her resume which improved to 3-2-1 from six starts. She has now earned over half a million for her connections and is the first graded stakes winner for her sire.

The Biscuit! @ABeschizza wins the (GIII) Herecomesthebride Stakes aboard #9 DANSE MACABRE ($26.80) for trainer @kelseyjdanner and owner NBS Stable and Elements Racing. pic.twitter.com/kcKqfXHNvE

— TVG (@TVG) March 4, 2023

"Coming back off the bench where we were really doing it to see if she could get that ground, to win like that. ... You can't teach heart. She's got a ton of courage, a ton of guts," Ballantyne said. "The track may have had helped carry her along a little bit, but boy she does not let many horses pass her, I'll tell you that much."

Other races that could be in the cards for the Kentucky-bred filly include the April 14 Limestone Stakes at Keeneland, May 27 Soaring Softly Stakes (G3T) at Belmont Park, July 23 Caress Stakes (G3T) at the Spa, and the Mint Ladies Sprint (G2T) in September at Kentucky Downs. 

"You do take a peek at the condition book and see what's next but the first call in the morning is, 'Is she in the feed? Is she sound and came out of the race well?' And she is, she ate well, she's sound," Smith said. "We'll talk to Kelsey and John and put our heads together and see where we end up. Now we know we can go two turns; it certainly opens up some possibilities."