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Bluebird (horse)
Bluebird (2 April 1984 – 14 May 2005) was an American-bred, Irish-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He fetched $1.1 million as a yearling and spent his racing career in Europe. He showed promise as a juvenile in Ireland in 1986 when he won on his debut and finished third in his only other race that year. In the following spring, he finished second in the Leopardstown 2,000 Guineas Trial Stakes before being dropped to sprint distances to win the Ballyogan Stakes and subsequently recording an emphatic victory in the Group One King's Stand Stakes. He failed to win in three subsequent starts and was retired at the end of the season. He later stood as a breeding stallion in Ireland and Australia and had considerable success as a sire of winners. Background Bluebird was a "lengthy, useful-looking" bay horse with a white star and three white socks and bred in Kentucky by the Seitz-Waldman Partnership. As a yearling, the colt was offered for sale at Keeneland and was bou ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Storm Bird
Storm Bird (19 April 1978 – 3 December 2004) was a Canadian-bred, Irish-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He was the outstanding European two-year-old of 1980, when he was unbeaten in five races, including the Anglesey Stakes, National Stakes and Dewhurst Stakes. His subsequent career was disrupted by injury and illness, and he was well beaten in his only race of 1981. He was then retired to stud, where he became a successful breeding stallion. Background Storm Bird was a bay horse with a white star and snip and two white socks bred in Canada by Windfields Farm. He was one of many important winners sired by Northern Dancer, who won the Kentucky Derby in 1964 before becoming one of the most successful breeding stallions in Thoroughbred history. His dam, South Ocean, had previously produced Northernette (also sired by Northern Dancer), the champion filly of her generation in Canada at two and three years of age. The colt was sent to race in Europe and was trained by Vi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coolmore Stud
Coolmore Stud, in Fethard, County Tipperary, Ireland, is headquarters of the world's largest breeding operation of thoroughbred racehorses. Through its racing arm, Ballydoyle, Coolmore also has raced many classic winners and champions. The operation, which is currently owned and run by the Magnier family, has been associated with a long sequence of top-class stallions since the 1850s, originally in County Cork, where stallions still stand as part of Coolmore today. Coolmore was once home to champion sires Sadler's Wells, Danehill, and Galileo. Coolmore Ireland Coolmore was originally a relatively small farm dedicated to general agriculture, but came into the Vigors family in 1945 when a training operation was established there. It was inherited by Tim Vigors, famous fighter pilot in the Battle of Britain and in the Far East. Having left the air force, he firstly joined Goffs bloodstock auctioneers before setting up his own bloodstock agency in 1951. He moved to Coolmore in 1968 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Horse Length
A horse length, or simply length, is a unit of measurement for the length of a horse from nose to tail, approximately . Use in horse racing The length is commonly used in Thoroughbred horse racing, where it describes the distance between horses in a race. Horses may be described as winning by several lengths, as in the notable example of Secretariat, who won the 1973 Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths. In 2013, the New York Racing Association placed a blue-and-white checkered pole at Belmont Park to mark that winning margin; using Equibase's official measurement of a length——the pole was placed from the finish line. More often, winning distances are merely a fraction of a length, such as half a length. In British horse racing, the distances between horses are calculated by converting the time between them into lengths by a scale of lengths-per-second. The actual number of lengths-per-second varies according to the type of race and the going conditions. For example, in a flat turf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Phoenix Park Racecourse
Phoenix Park Racecourse is a former horse racing venue in Ireland. It was located in the townlands of Ashtown and Castleknock in the civil parish of Castleknock on the northern edge of the Phoenix Park in Dublin. The course was founded by JHH Peard, and racing began there in 1902. History From 1939 to 1950 the track was managed by Mr Peard's son Harry, and thereafter it was run by his widow Fanny. Mrs Peard retired in 1969, and the track closed for the first time at the end of the 1981 season. The course re-opened for the 1983 season, owned by a consortium that included Vincent O'Brien and Robert Sangster. Due to financial difficulties the track was permanently closed for racing in late 1990. Racing events Several of Ireland's leading flat races, which later were contested at other venues, originally took place at Phoenix Park. These include the Irish Champion Stakes and the Phoenix Stakes. Other races of note held at Phoenix Park include the G III Vauxhall Trial Stakes. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maiden Race
In horse racing a maiden race is an event for horses that have not won a race. Horses that have not won a race are referred to as maidens. Maiden horse races are held over a variety of distances and under conditions with eligibility based on the sex or age of the horse. Races may be handicaps, set weights, or weight for age. In many countries, maiden races are the lowest level of class and represent an entry point into a racing career. In countries such as the United States, maiden special weight races rank above claiming races, while maiden claiming races allow the horse to be claimed (bought) by another owner. Eligibility Generally, horses have to be maidens (non-winners) at the time of the race. In regions where jumping races take place, flat racing and jumps racing are sometimes treated as two distinct forms of racing and winning in one category does not preclude a horse entering a maiden in the other. For example, a horse can win multiple jumps races and still be eligible to en ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Furlong
A furlong is a measure of distance in imperial units and United States customary units equal to one eighth of a mile, equivalent to 660 feet, 220 yards, 40 rods, 10 chains or approximately 201 metres. It is now mostly confined to use in horse racing, where in many countries it is the standard measurement of race lengths, and agriculture, where is it used to measure rural field lengths and distances. In the United States, some states use older definitions for surveying purposes, leading to variations in the length of the furlong of two parts per million, or about . This variation is too small to have practical consequences in most applications. Using the international definition of the yard as exactly 0.9144 metres, one furlong is 201.168 metres, and five furlongs are about 1 kilometre ( exactly). History The name ''furlong'' derives from the Old English words ' (furrow) and ' (long). Dating back at least to early Anglo-Saxon times, it originally referred to the length o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dark Mirage
Dark Mirage (March 6, 1965 – July 9, 1969) was an American Hall of Fame Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. Racing career Dark Mirage was 15.1 hands high. In her 1967 campaign as a two-year-old, she had two minor wins in fifteen starts. As a three-year-old, she lost her first race, then (en route to winning nine in a row) became the first winner of the Filly Triple Crown, capturing all three races with ease. Her handlers decided to rest her for the remainder of the racing season. Dark Mirage's performance earned her the American Champion Three-Year-Old Filly The American Champion Three-Year-Old Filly is an American Thoroughbred horse racing honor awarded annually to a female horse in Thoroughbred flat racing. It became part of the Eclipse Awards program in 1971. The award originated in 1936 when both ... honor. At age four, Dark Mirage raced only two times. She won her first race and, in the next, severely injured a fetlock joint. This injury ended her racing career and res ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Java Gold
Java Gold (1984–2009) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won three Grade 1 races and sired two Champions. Bred by Paul Mellon, and raced by his Rokeby Stables, Java Gold notably won the 1986 Remsen Stakes at age two with Jerry Bailey aboard, then won the Grade 1 Travers Stakes, Marlboro Cup Invitational and Whitney Handicaps in 1987. With Pat Day aboard, his final career race was a second-place finish behind Creme Fraiche in the Jockey Club Gold Cup after trying to come from behind in which a very slow pace was being set by the front-runners. He retired from racing having won nine of his fifteen starts and with earnings of US$1,908,832. A successful sire, Java Gold produced Kona Gold, winner of the 2000 Breeders' Cup Sprint and the Eclipse Award winner for American Champion Sprint Horse. Standing at Gestüt Ammerland in Germany, he also sired Access To Java, the 2000 German Champion Two-Year-Old Colt, and Boreal, who won the 2001 Group One Deutsches Derby in Germ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saffron Walden (horse)
Saffron Walden (foaled 5 March 1996) was a French-bred, Irish-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. Bred by Stavros Niarchos he fetched IR£1,200,000 as a yearling and showed considerable promise on his only run as a two-year-old when he finished second in the Killavullan Stakes. In the spring of 1999 he emerged as a top-class miler, winning the 2000 Guineas Trial Stakes before recording an emphatic victory in the Irish 2000 Guineas. He was fancied for The Derby but finished seventh and was disappointing in his two subsequent races. After being retired from racing he stood as a breeding stallion in Japan and Ireland with limited success as a sire of winners. Background Saffron Walden was a bay horse with a small white star and a white coronet on his right hind foot bred in France by Stavros Niarchos. Niarchos died a month after the colt was foaled and the horse then entered the ownership of the Niarchos family. In October 1997 the yearling was offered for sale at Goffs and w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henrythenavigator
Henrythenavigator (foaled February 28, 2005) is an American-bred and Irish-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. He won the 2000 Guineas, the Irish 2,000 Guineas, the St. James's Palace Stakes and the Sussex Stakes in 2008. After he finished second in the Breeders' Cup Classic it was announced that Henrythenavigator would retire to Ashford Stud, Kentucky (Coolmore's farm in Kentucky), to stand at stud beginning the 2009 season. For the 2010 season, he shuttled between Ashford Stud and Coolmore's Australian farm; he now shuttles between Coolmore's Ireland and Australia farms. He is named after the Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator. Stud record Henrythenavigator attracted a number of top-class mares in his first season. They included: Vertigineux, the dam of Zenyatta; Rags To Riches, winner of the Belmont Stakes; Peeping Fawn, winner of the Irish Oaks; and, Mien, dam of Kentucky Derby winner Big Brown. As a breeding stallion he was not a conspicuous success and was eventually exp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Balanchine (horse)
Balanchine (16 April 1991 – 18 February 2021) was a Thoroughbred racehorse, bred in the United States and trained in the United Kingdom and Dubai. In a racing career which lasted from September 1993 until October 1995 she ran eight times and won four races. After winning both her races as a two-year-old Balanchine was narrowly beaten in the 1994 1000 Guineas before winning the Classic Epsom Oaks. She then recorded her most important success when defeating male opposition in the 1994 Irish Derby. After recovering from a life-threatening illness, she returned in 1995 but failed to win. Balanchine was one of the first important successes for Godolphin Racing. Background Balanchine was a "big, handsome" chestnut mare, with a prominent white blaze and a long white sock on her near-hind leg. She was bred in the US by the Swettenham Stud, the breeding operation of her original owner, Robert Sangster. She was sired by the European Champion Two-Year-Old Storm Bird, out of the Affirme ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indian Skimmer (horse)
Indian Skimmer (foaled 1984 in Kentucky) is an American-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. Trained by Sir Henry Cecil, she was the winner of nine high-class races in Europe, including the French Oaks, the Champion Stakes and the Irish Champion Stakes. Indian Skimmer is one of the top-rated fillies in Europe since World War II. Background Bred by MIT graduate Ronald J. Worswick in partnership with Ashford Stud in Versailles, Kentucky, the gray filly is out of the mare Nobilaire and sired by Storm Bird. Her grandsire was Northern Dancer, the top sire of the 20th Century and her damsire was Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner, Vaguely Noble. She was named for the rare Indian skimmer (''Rynchops albicollis''), a bird.{{Citation needed, date=January 2010 Racing career Owned by Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and trained by Henry Cecil, Indian Skimmer won top-class Group One races against the best fillies of the day, including a victory over Miesque in the 1987 Prix de Di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
