Nearctic was an Canadian-bred

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 Hall of Fame

Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame

The Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame was established in 1976 at the Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario to honor those who have made a significant contribution to the sport of harness and thoroughbred horse racing in Canada....

 Thoroughbred

Thoroughbred

The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...

 racehorse

Horse racing

Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...

. Bred by E. P. Taylor

E. P. Taylor

Edward Plunket Taylor was a Canadian business tycoon and famous breeder of thoroughbred race horses. Known to his friends as "Eddie", he is universally recorded as "E. P...

, he was out of the Irish

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 mare Lady Angela, a daughter of the British Champion sire

Leading sire in Great Britain & Ireland

The list below shows the leading sire of racehorses in Great Britain and Ireland for each year since 1751. This is determined by the amount of prize money won by the sire's progeny during the season.----- References :* -See also:...

 Hyperion

Hyperion (horse)

Hyperion was a British bred Thoroughbred, a dual classic winner and an outstanding sire. Owned by Edward Stanley, 17th Earl of Derby, Hyperion won £29,509 during his career - a considerable sum at the time. His victories included the Epsom Derby and St...

. He was sired by the extremely important stallion Nearco

Nearco

Nearco was an Italian bred Thoroughbred racehorse described by Thoroughbred Heritage as "one of the greatest racehorses of the Twentieth Century" and "one of the most important sires of the century." He was not only unbeaten, winning 14 races at distances from 5 furlongs to 1 mile 7 furlongs ,...

.

Conditioned for racing by future Canadian Hall of Fame trainer

Horse trainer

In horse racing, a trainer prepares a horse for races, with responsibility for exercising it, getting it race-ready and determining which races it should enter...

 "Pete" McCann

Gordon J. McCann

Gordon J. "Pete" McCann was a Canadian Thoroughbred horse trainer. He was born in East York, now part of the city of Toronto. Known to his family as Gordon, in racing circles he was nicknamed Pete....

, Nearctic had his most successful season on the track at age four, when he won nine races and was voted Canadian Horse of the Year.

As a sire

Retired to stand at stud

Stud (animal)

A stud animal is a registered animal retained for breeding. The terms for the male of a given animal species usually imply that the animal is entire—that is, not castrated—and therefore capable of siring offspring...

 at Windfields Farm

Windfields Farm

Windfields Farm is a six square kilometre thoroughbred horse breeding farm founded by businessman E. P. Taylor in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. The first stable and breeding operation of E. P. Taylor originated with a property near the city of Toronto known as Parkwood Stable when it was owned by...

 in Oshawa, Ontario

Oshawa, Ontario

Oshawa is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario approximately 60 kilometres east of downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of both the Greater Toronto Area and the Golden Horseshoe. It is now commonly referred to as the most...

, he was later moved to stand at Allaire du Pont's

Allaire du Pont

Allaire du Pont was an American sportswoman and a member of the prominent French-American Du Pont family of chemical manufacturers who is most remembered as the owner of the Thoroughbred horse racing Hall of Fame champion, Kelso....

 Woodstock Farm at Chesapeake City, Maryland

Chesapeake City, Maryland

Chesapeake City is a town in Cecil County, Maryland, United States. The population was 787 at the 2000 census.The town was originally named by Bohemian colonist Augustine Herman the Village of Bohemia , but the name was changed in 1839 when the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal was built...

. An outstanding stallion, Nearctic sired Kentucky Derby

Kentucky Derby

The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...

 winner and the 20th Century's greatest sire Northern Dancer

Northern Dancer

Northern Dancer was a Canadian-bred Thoroughbred racehorse and the most successful sire of the 20th Century. The National Thoroughbred Racing Association calls him "one of the most influential sires in Thoroughbred history"....

. He also sired Icecapade, Ice Water

Ice Water (horse)

Ice Water was a Canadian Thoroughbred racehorse. Owned and regally bred by George Gardiner, she was the daughter of Gardiner's unraced filly Seiches who was a daughter of the 1948 U.S. Triple Crown champion, Count Fleet...

, Nonoalco

Nonoalco

Nonoalco was an American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who raced in France. He was out of the mare Seximee, a daughter of the 1954 Preakness Stakes winner Hasty Road...

, Northern Queen

Northern Queen

Northern Queen was a Canadian Thoroughbred filly racehorse. Bred by E. P. Taylor and raced by his Windfields Farm, she was a daughter of Nearctic, sire of the legendary Northern Dancer...

, and Canadian Hall of Fame inductee, Cool Reception

Cool Reception

Cool Reception is a Canadian Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse. During his two-year-old racing season, trainer Carl Chapman retired and the colt's conditioning was taken over by Lou Cavalaris, Jr...

.

Over and above the many highly successful sons of Northern Dancer, Nearctic was the grandsire of Northern Taste

Northern Taste

Northern Taste was a Canadian-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who raced in France and who became a legendary sire in Japan. Bred by E. P. Taylor at his Windfields Farm in Oshawa, Ontario, Northern Taste was out of the mare Lady Victoria, a daughter of Canadian Hall of Fame inductee, Victoria Park. ...

, Wild Again

Wild Again

Wild Again was an American Thoroughbred racehorse by Icecapade out of Bushel-N-Peck . He was broken and initially trained by Tommy Akin, but for the majority of his career was trained by Vincent Timphony...

, Fanfreluche

Fanfreluche (horse)

Fanfreluche was a Canadian-bred Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. She was named by her French Canadian owner for the title character of a popular children's television show on the French-language division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation...

, Izvestia

Izvestia (horse)

Izvestia was a Thoroughbred racehorse who won the Canadian Triple Crown in 1990. A descendant of Nearco, his damsire Personality was the 1970 Co-American Horse of the Year. Owned and bred by Kinghaven Farms, the colt began racing in the United States, winning two Graded stakes races at the...

, and Son of Briartic

Son of Briartic

Son of Briartic was a Canadian Thoroughbred racehorse, Bred by Canada's most prominent horsemen, E. P. Taylor, he was out of the mare Tabola, a daughter of U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee, Round Table...

, among others. He was also the damsire of Kennedy Road

Kennedy Road (horse)

Kennedy Road was a Canadian Thoroughbred Champion racehorse who dominated Canadian racing for three years before going to success in California.-Background:He was bred by Canadian mining magnate Arthur W...

 and the Canadian and U.S. Hall of Fame filly La Prevoyante

La Prevoyante

La Prevoyante was a Canadian-bred Thoroughbred race horse elected to the Racing Halls of Fame in the United States and Canada. A filly, she was bred and owned by Jean-Louis Lévesque...

.

Nearctic appears four generations back on both sides (dam and sire) of champion race horse Big Brown

Big Brown

Big Brown is a retired champion American Thoroughbred racehorse and winner of the 2008 Kentucky Derby and 2008 Preakness Stakes. Bred by Dr. Gary B. Knapp's Monticule Farms in Lexington, Kentucky, he won his first five race starts. He was sired by Grade III winner Boundary, a son of North American...

.

Nearctic died at Woodstock Farm at age nineteen on July 27, 1973. He is buried in the farm's equine cemetery.http://www.tbheritage.com/TurfHallmarks/Graves/cem/GraveMattersWoodstock.html