{{Infobox racehorse , horsename = Coretta , image = , caption = , sire =

Caerleon Caerleon (; cy, Caerllion) is a town and community in Newport, Wales. Situated on the River Usk, it lies northeast of Newport city centre, and southeast of Cwmbran. Caerleon is of archaeological importance, being the site of a notable Roman ...

, grandsire =

Nijinsky Vaslav (or Vatslav) Nijinsky (; rus, Вацлав Фомич Нижинский, Vatslav Fomich Nizhinsky, p=ˈvatsləf fɐˈmʲitɕ nʲɪˈʐɨnskʲɪj; pl, Wacław Niżyński, ; 12 March 1889/18908 April 1950) was a ballet dancer and choreog ...

, dam = Free At Last , damsire = Shirley Heights , sex =

Mare A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than fo ...

, foaled = 1994 , country =

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

, colour = Bay , breeder = Gerald W. Leigh , owner = Gerald W. Leigh , trainer =

Christophe Clement Christophe Clement (born November 1, 1965 in Paris, France) is a Thoroughbred horse trainer in the United States who won the 2014 Belmont Stakes with Tonalist. Racing background Clement initially acquired his training skills from his father ...

, record = 18: 7-4-4 , earnings = $748,420 , race =

La Prevoyante Handicap The La Prevoyante Stakes, until 2019 the La Prevoyante Handicap, is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale, Florida. The race is open to fillies and mares, age four and up, willing to race one and one-half ...

(1998, 1999)
Long Island Handicap (1998)

Orchid Handicap The Orchid Stakes is a Grade III American Thoroughbred horse race for fillies and mares that are four years or older held over a distance of one and one-half miles on the turf usually scheduled annually in late March as an under card event on F ...

(1999) , awards= , honours = , updated= Coretta (foaled February 11, 1994 in

) is a

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 ...

racemare who competed in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. She was bred and raced by Gerald W. Leigh, proprietor of England's

Eydon Hall thumb Eydon Hall is a Palladian stately home near the village of Eydon, in Northamptonshire. It is a Grade I listed building, and is currently in use as a private residence. Architecture The house, built of ironstone, remains broadly as it was o ...

Stud. Leigh owned and bred her dam, Free At Last, who was a daughter of the 1978

Epsom Epsom is the principal town of the Borough of Epsom and Ewell in Surrey, England, about south of central London. The town is first recorded as ''Ebesham'' in the 10th century and its name probably derives from that of a Saxon landowner. The ...

and

Irish Derby The Irish Derby ( Irish: Dearbaí na hÉireann) is a Group 1 flat horse race in Ireland open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at the Curragh over a distance ...

winner, Shirley Heights. A philanthropist with a strong

social conscience A social conscience is "a sense of responsibility or concern for the problems and injustices of society". While our conscience is related to moral conduct in our day-to-day lives with respect to individuals, social conscience is concerned with th ...

who was a member of the Council of Management for the

Animal Health Trust The Animal Health Trust (AHT) was a large national independent charity in the United Kingdom, employing over 200 scientists, vets and support workers. Its objectives were to study and to cure diseases in companion animals (horses, dogs and cats ...

, Leigh named Free At Last for those words contained in

Martin Luther King Jr. Martin Luther King Jr. (born Michael King Jr.; January 15, 1929 – April 4, 1968) was an American Baptist minister and activist, one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968 ...

's 1963 speech, " I Have a Dream". Leigh named Free At Last's first foal, Coretta, for King's widow,

Coretta Scott King Coretta Scott King ( Scott; April 27, 1927 – January 30, 2006) was an American author, activist, and civil rights leader who was married to Martin Luther King Jr. from 1953 until his death. As an advocate for African-American equality, she ...

. Leigh later gave another of Free At Last's foals the name of the

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

civil rights Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from infringement by governments, social organizations, and private individuals. They ensure one's entitlement to participate in the civil and political life o ...

activist,

Rosa Parks Rosa Louise McCauley Parks (February 4, 1913 – October 24, 2005) was an American activist in the civil rights movement best known for her pivotal role in the Montgomery bus boycott. The United States Congress has honored her as "th ...

. Coretta's sire was

, the 1983 Champion Three-Year-Old Colt in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

who was a son of the English Triple Crown champion,

. Leigh maintained racing stables in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, France, and the United States. Coretta raced once at age two in England and in 1997 at age three made five starts with her best performance a win in the Breitling Handicap at

Newmarket Racecourse Newmarket Racecourse is a British Thoroughbred horse racing venue in Newmarket, Suffolk, comprising two individual racecourses: the Rowley Mile and the July Course. Newmarket is often referred to as the headquarters of British horserac ...

under jockey

Frankie Dettori Lanfranco Dettori (; born 15 December 1970), better known as Frankie Dettori, is an Italian horse racing jockey based in the United Kingdom. Dettori has been British flat racing Champion Jockey three times and has ...

. In 1998 Coretta was sent to the United States where she was conditioned by French trainer

, who is established in the United States. At age four she won

Graded stakes race A graded stakes race is a thoroughbred horse race in the United States that meets the criteria of the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA). A specific grade level (I, II, III or listed) is the ...

s on

turf Sod, also known as turf, is the upper layer of soil with the grass growing on it that is often harvested into rolls. In Australian and British English, sod is more commonly known as ''turf'', and the word "sod" is limited mainly to agricult ...

, including the then Grade II Long Island Handicap at Aqueduct Racetrack in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and the

at Florida's

Gulfstream Park Gulfstream Park, owned by The Stronach Group, is a Thoroughbred race track, casino and outdoor entertainment and shopping destination in Hallandale Beach, Florida. Thoroughbred horse racing occurs year-round, defined by three distinct race meets ...

. In 1999 Coretta won her second consecutive La Prevoyante Handicap as well as the

. At New York's Belmont Park, she finished second to

Soaring Softly Soaring Softly (1995 in Kentucky – 2015) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse whose biggest win came in the 1999 Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf. She originally raced on dirt, with limited success. Switched to turf at age four, she won seven ...

in the Grade I Flower Bowl Invitational Handicap. Entered in the inaugural running of 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 Champion ...

, the

parimutuel betting Parimutuel betting or pool betting is a betting system in which all bets of a particular type are placed together in a pool; taxes and the "house-take" or "vigorish" are deducted, and payoff odds are calculated by sharing the pool among all winnin ...

public made Coretta the seventh choice at 16:1 odds. In the 1⅜ miles race, she ran near the leaders until the top of the homestretch when she moved into the lead only to be caught near the finish line to finish second again to Soaring Softly. Retired to broodmare duty, among her matings Leigh bred Coretta two times to

Ogden Phipps Ogden Phipps (November 26, 1908 – April 21, 2002) was an American stockbroker, court tennis champion and Hall of Fame member, thoroughbred horse racing executive and owner/breeder, and an art collector and philanthropist. In 2001, he was induc ...

' stallion Seeking The Gold, naming the foals "Civil Rights" and "Shared Dreams".

References

Coretta's pedigree and partial racing stats
1994 racehorse births Thoroughbred family 14-a Racehorses bred in Ireland Racehorses trained in the United States