Castle Lady (foaled 12 April 2016) is an Irish-bred, French-trained

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. Thoroughbreds are c ...

racehorse. In 2019 she won a minor race on her debut before taking the

Prix de la Grotte The Prix de la Grotte is a Group 3 flat horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run over a distance of 1,600 metres (about 1 mile) at Longchamp in Apr ...

and then recording her biggest victory in the

Poule d'Essai des Pouliches The Poule d'Essai des Pouliches is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run over a distance of 1,600 metres (about 1 mile) at ...

. In three subsequent races she finished fifth in the

Coronation Stakes The Coronation Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old fillies. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 7 furlong and 213 yards (1,603 metres), and it is schedul ...

, second in the

Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes The Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes is a Grade I American thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old fillies over a distance of one and one-eighth miles on the turf held annually in October at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky ...

and tenth in the

Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf The Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf is a Weight for Age Thoroughbred horse race on turf for fillies and mares, three years old and up. It is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States as part of the Breeders' Cup World Championship ...

Background

Castle Lady is a dark bay mare with a small white

star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

bred in Ireland by her owner Godolphin. She was sent into training with Henri-Alex Pantall at Beaupreau in

Maine-et-Loire Maine-et-Loire () is a department in the Loire Valley in the Pays de la Loire region in Western France. It is named after the two rivers, Maine and the Loire. It borders Mayenne and Sarthe to the north, Loire-Atlantique to the west, Indre-e ...

. She was from the tenth crop of foals sired by

Shamardal Shamardal (27 March 2002 – 16 April 2020) was a Thoroughbred racehorse who competed in the United Kingdom and in France and was voted the 2004 European Champion Two-Year-Old. Background Bred at Watercress Farm in Paris, Kentucky, Shamardal w ...

whose wins included the

Dewhurst Stakes The Dewhurst Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to two-year-old colts and fillies. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 7 furlongs (1,408 metres), ...

Poule d'Essai des Poulains Molof (Ampas, Poule, Powle-Ma) is a poorly documented Papuan language spoken by about 200 people in Molof village, Senggi District, Keerom Regency. Classification Wurm (1975) placed it as an independent branch of Trans–New Guinea, but Ross ...

Prix du Jockey Club The Prix du Jockey Club, sometimes referred to as the French Derby, is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Chantilly over a ...

and St. James's Palace Stakes. His other offspring have included

Able Friend Able Friend ( zh, 步步友:, link=no foaled 19 September 2009) is an Australian-bred, Hong Kong-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. After showing some promise when winning one of his two races in his native country, the gelding was transferred to r ...

Mukhadram Mukhadram (foaled 6 April 2009) is a British Thoroughbred racehorse. Unraced as a two-year-old, he showed promise when winning two minor races as a three-year-old in 2012. In the following year he emerged as a top-class performer with a front-run ...

Lope de Vega Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio ( , ; 25 November 156227 August 1635) was a Spanish playwright, poet, and novelist. He was one of the key figures in the Spanish Golden Age of Baroque literature. His reputation in the world of Spanish literature ...

and Blue Point. Castle Lady's dam Windsor County was an unraced full-sister to

Raven's Pass Raven's Pass (foaled February 17, 2005 in Kentucky) is an American-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse most notable for being the first English-trained winner of the Grade I Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Californ ...

. As a descendant of the American broodmare Classicist (foaled 1965), she was also related to

Danzig Connection Danzig Connection (April 6, 1983 – December 1, 2010) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the Belmont Stakes. Background Owned and bred by Henryk de Kwiatkowski under his Kennelot Stables banner, Danzig Connection wa ...

Racing career

2019: three-year-old season

After failing to appear on the track as a juvenile, Castle Lady made her debut on 14 March in a

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 se ...

over 1600 metres on the synthetic

Polytrack The track surface of a horse racing track refers to the material of which the track is made. There are three types of track surfaces used in modern horse racing. These are: *Turf, the most common track surface in Europe *Dirt, the most common track ...

surface at

Chantilly Racecourse Chantilly Racecourse (In French: "Hippodrome de Chantilly") is a Thoroughbred turf racecourse for flat racing in Chantilly, Oise, France, about north of the centre of the city of Paris. Chantilly Racecourse is located in the country's main hors ...

in which she was ridden by Pierre-Charles Boudot. Starting the 2.7/1 favourite she raced in second place before taking the lead 200 metres from the finish and drawing away to win by three and a half

lengths Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a base unit for length is chosen, from which all other units are derived. In the Intern ...

from Red Curry.

Mickael Barzalona Mickaël Barzalona (born 3 August 1991 in Avignon, France) is a French-born Thoroughbred horse racing jockey, who is the retained jockey in France for Godolphin. Career Barzalona was born into a racing family, his grandfather is Christian Barz ...

rode the filly in all of her subsequent races. One month after her maiden win Castle Lady was stepped up in class for the

Group 3 Group 3 may refer to: *Group 3 element, chemical element classification *Group 3 (racing), FIA classification for auto racing *Group 3, the third tier of races in worldwide Thoroughbred horse racing * Group 3 image format, Group 3 & Group 4 are d ...

Prix de la Grotte at

Longchamp Racecourse The Longchamp Racecourse (french: Hippodrome de Longchamp) is a 57 hectare horse-racing facility located on the Route des Tribunes at the Bois de Boulogne in Paris, France. It is used for flat racing and is noted for its variety of interlaced tr ...

and started the 4.7/1 third favourite behind Lily's Candle (winner of the

Prix Marcel Boussac The Prix Marcel Boussac is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to two-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run at Longchamp over a distance of 1,600 metres (about 1 mile), and it is sched ...

) and Tifosa (winner of the Listed Prix la Camargo). Castle Lady started well and settled behind the leaders before moving up to take the lead inside the last 200 metres. She extended her advantage in the closing stages to win by one and three quarter lengths from the front-running Imperial Charm. In the Group 1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches over 1600 metres at Longchamp on 12 May Castle Lady started the 5/2 favourite against nine opponents including Matematica (runner-up in the Prix Marcel Boussac), East (

Prix Thomas Bryon The Prix Thomas Bryon is a Group 3 flat horse race in France open to two-year-old thoroughbreds. It is run at Saint-Cloud over a distance of 1,400 metres (about 7 furlongs), and it is scheduled to take pl ...

), Watch Me, Rocques (

Prix d'Aumale The Prix d'Aumale is a Group 3 flat horse race in France open to two-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run at Chantilly over a distance of 1,600 metres (about 1 mile), and it is scheduled to take plac ...

), Coral Beach (

Killavullan Stakes The Killavullan Stakes is a Group 3 flat horse race in Ireland open to two-year-old thoroughbreds. It is run at Leopardstown over a distance of 7 furlongs (1,408 metres), and it is scheduled to take ...

), Silva (

UAE 1000 Guineas The UAE 1000 Guineas is a flat horse race in the United Arab Emirates for three-year-old thoroughbred fillies run at Meydan Racecourse in Dubai in February. Records Record time: * 1:35.84 – ''Folk (2007)'' Leading jockey (4 wins): * Frankie Det ...

) and Imperial Charm. Castle Lady settled in fourth place as Imperial Charm set the pace from Suphala and Matematica before making progress on the outside to take the lead approaching the last 200 metres. Commes launched a strong late challenge on the inside but Castle Lady held on to win by a nose with East a length and a half back in third place. After the race Pantall said that the filly would not be moved up in distance commenting "She won't stay the Diane trip, and we'll certainly look at the

Prix Jacques Le Marois The Prix Jacques Le Marois is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to thoroughbred colts and fillies aged three years or older. It is run at Deauville over a distance of 1,600 metres (about 1 mile ...

, with maybe the

in between. She doesn't have a lot of experience, and it's quite something for her to find herself in front and then fight all the way to the death. She still has more physical progress to make, and I think there's more to come". As Pantall had predicted, Castle Lady reappeared in the Coronation Stakes over one mile at

Royal Ascot Ascot Racecourse ("ascot" pronounced , often pronounced ) is a dual-purpose British racecourse, located in Ascot, Berkshire, England, which is used for thoroughbred horse racing. It hosts 13 of Britain's 36 annual Flat Group 1 horse races and ...

on 21 June. She was made the 6/1 third choice in the betting but sustained her first defeat as she never looked likely to win and came home fifth of the nine runners behind Watch Me, beaten four and a quarter lengths by the winner. In the autumn of 2019 Castle Lady embarked on a North American campaign, starting with the

over nine furlongs at

Keeneland Keeneland Association, Inc. is an equine business based in Lexington, Kentucky. It includes two distinct divisions: the Keeneland Race Course, a Thoroughbred racing facility, and Keeneland Sales, a horse auction complex. It is also known for it ...

on 12 October when she finished second by a length to the

Del Mar Oaks The Del Mar Oaks is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually in mid August at the Del Mar Racetrack in Del Mar, California. Open to three-year-old Filly, fillies, it is contested at a distance of one and one-eighth miles (9 furlongs) on th ...

winner Cambier Parc. The filly ended her season on 2 November in the

over ten furlongs at

Santa Anita Park Santa Anita Park is a Thoroughbred racetrack in Arcadia, California, United States. It offers some of the prominent horse racing events in the United States during early fall, winter and in spring. The track is home to numerous prestigious races ...

. She started an 18/1 outsider and came home last of the ten runners behind

Iridessa Iridessa (foaled 14 January 2016) is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse. As a two-year-old in 2018 she was one of the best fillies of her generation in Europe, winning the Group 1 Fillies' Mile. In the following year she was beaten in her first thr ...

, beaten almost thirteen lengths by the winner after fading badly in the straight.

Pedigree

References

{{Reflist 2016 racehorse births Racehorses bred in Ireland Racehorses trained in France Thoroughbred family 17-b