Island Sands (foaled 27 January 1996) was an Irish-bred
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 and
sire
Sire is an archaic respectful form of address to reigning kings in Europe. In French and other languages it is less archaic and relatively more current. In Belgium, the king is addressed as "Sire..." in both Dutch and French.
The words "sire" a ...
. In a career that lasted from August 1998 to June 2001 he ran nine times and won four races. His most notable success came in his first race as a three-year-old in 1999, when he won the
2,000 Guineas
The 2000 Guineas Stakes is a Group 1 flat race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 metres) and scheduled to take place each year at ...
at
Newmarket. His subsequent career was restricted by injury and he won only one minor race in the next two years. He retired to a stud career in China.
Background
Island Sands was described as a "most attractive" brown horse 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 ...
and four white feet
and stood 16
hands
A hand is a prehensile, multi-fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the koala (which has two opposable thumbs on each " ...
high. He was bred at the Kilcoran House Stud in
County Tipperary
County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after th ...
, Ireland by Mrs T. V. Ryan. He was sired by Turtle Island out of the mare Tiavanita. Turtle Island won six races, most notably the 1994
Irish 2,000 Guineas
The Irish 2,000 Guineas 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 of 1 mile (1,609 metres), and it is s ...
which he won by fifteen lengths on his favoured soft ground. At stud, he has sired the winners of over four hundred races, but Island Sands, from his first crop of foals, remains his only winner at
Group One
Group One, Group 1, Grade I or G1 is the term used for the highest level of Thoroughbred and Standardbred stakes races in many countries. In Europe, the level of races for Thoroughbred racing is determined using the Pattern races, Pattern race sys ...
level. Tiavanita failed to win a race but was a half-sister of Corrupt, who won the
Great Voltigeur Stakes
The Great Voltigeur Stakes is a Group 2 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old colts and geldings. It is run at York over a distance of 1 mile 3 furlongs and 18 ...
and started joint-favourite for the 1991
Epsom Derby
The Derby Stakes, also known as the Epsom Derby or the Derby, and as the Cazoo Derby for sponsorship reasons, is a Group 1 flat horse race in England open to three-year-old colts and fillies. It is run at Epsom Downs Racecourse in Surrey o ...
. As a
yearling
Yearling may refer to:
*Yearling (horse), a horse between one and two years old
*''The Yearling
''The Yearling'' is a novel by American writer Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, published in March 1938. It was the main selection of the Book of the Mo ...
, Island Sands was sent to the Goffs Sale in October, where he was bought for
IR£
The pound (Irish: ) was the currency of the Republic of Ireland until 2002. Its ISO 4217 code was IEP, and the symbol was £ (or IR£ for distinction). The Irish pound was replaced by the euro on 1 January 1999. Euro currency did not begin cir ...
18,000 by the British trainer
David Elsworth
David Raymond Cecil Elsworth (born 1939) is a retired horse trainer living in the United Kingdom. He was the trainer of Desert Orchid, 1988 Grand National winner Rhyme 'n' Reason, and 1990 Queen Mother Champion Chase winner Barnbrook Again; thre ...
.
Racing career
1998: two-year-old season
Island Sands made his first appearance in a six
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 hors ...
maiden race at
Salisbury
Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath.
Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...
in August 1998. Ridden by the
apprentice jockey Alan Daly, he took the lead in the final furlong and won by two lengths from Victory Spin and twelve other runners. Five weeks later he returned to Salisbury for the Cranbourne Stakes in which he started favourite at odds of
4/6 and won by two lengths from Locombe Hill. After this race he was bought by
Godolphin Racing
Godolphin (Arabic: جودلفين) is the Maktoum family's private Thoroughbred horseracing stable and was named in honour of the Godolphin Arabian, who came from the desert to become one of the three founding stallions of the modern Thoroug ...
and sent to spend the winter in
Dubai
Dubai (, ; ar, دبي, translit=Dubayy, , ) is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, the most populated of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates.The Government and Politics of ...
, where he was trained by
Saeed bin Suroor
Saeed bin Suroor (born 16 November 1968 in Dubai) is a horse racing trainer in Great Britain. He took out his training licence in 1993 and the following year was appointed as the trainer for Sheikh Mohammed's Godolphin operation.
He has been ...
.
1999: three-year-old season
Early in 1999 Island Sands won a private trial race against other Godolphin horses at
Nad Al Sheba
Nad Al Sheba ( ar, ند الشبا) is a locality in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE). Situated south of the Dubai Creek, Nad Al Sheba is best known for its racecourse, the Nad Al Sheba Racecourse, which hosted the Dubai World Cup annually unti ...
, which led to him being aimed at the 2000 Guineas,
whilst the Godolphin team's best two-year-old of 1998,
Aljabr
Aljabr (3 February 1996 – 6 February 2018) was an American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse and sire who was trained in England and Dubai during a racing career which lasted from 1998 to 2000. He was named European Champion Two-Year-Old Colt ...
traveled to the United States for an abortive attempt at the
Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is a horse race held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, almost always on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The competition is a Grade I stakes race for three-year ...
.
On 1 May 1999, Island Sands started the 10/1 sixth choice in the betting for the sixteen runner 2000 Guineas. As the Rowley Mile course was being redeveloped, the race was run on the Newmarket July course for the first time since 1945.
The field split into two groups, with Island Sands, ridden by
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 ...
, leading the larger group on the side of the course further from the stands. Two furlongs from the finish he established an overall lead and ran on well in the closing stages to win by a neck from the strong-finishing
Greenham Stakes
The Greenham Stakes is a Group 3 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old colts and geldings. It is run over a distance of 7 furlongs () at Newbury in ...
winner Enrique, with Mujahid third. Dettori explained that he had not intended to make the running but had decided to let the colt go on when he started exceptionally well. Commenting on the finish, he said that he had been worried by Enrique's challenge but that "my fellow ran on really well again".
Three weeks later, Island Sands started favourite for the Irish 2000 Guineas at the
Curragh
The Curragh ( ; ga, An Currach ) is a flat open plain of almost of common land in County Kildare. This area is well known for Irish horse breeding and training. The Irish National Stud is located on the edge of Kildare town, beside the ...
, but failed to reproduce his Newmarket form. He was never traveling well and appeared to be struggling three furlongs from the end of the race before finishing fifth of the ten runners, beaten more than seven lengths by the
Aidan O'Brien
Aidan Patrick O'Brien (born 16 October 1969 in County Wexford, Ireland)[ Aidan O'Brien bio NTRA. ...](_blank)
-trained Saffron Walden. An injury then kept him off the racecourse for the remainder of the year.
2000–2001: later career
After a break of fifteen months, Island Sands returned to the racecourse in August 2000 in the
Group Three
AP Films or APF, later becoming Century 21 Productions, was a British independent film production company of the 1950s until the early 1970s. The company became internationally known for its imaginative children's action-adventure marionette tel ...
Prix Quincey
The Prix Quincey is a Group 3 flat horse race in France open to thoroughbreds aged four years or older. It is run at Deauville over a distance of 1,600 metres (about 1 mile), and it is scheduled to take ...
at Deauville, for which he was made 9/10 favourite. Frankie Dettori attempted to make all the running on the colt, but he was overtaken in the closing stages and beaten one and a half lengths by the three-year-old
filly
A filly is a female horse that is too young to be called a mare. There are two specific definitions in use:
*In most cases, a ''filly'' is a female horse under four years old.
*In some nations, such as the United Kingdom and the United States, t ...
Penny's Gold. A recurrence of his injury problems then ruled him out for the rest of the season.
Island Sands returned as a five-year-old in 2001 and won once from four starts. By this time his ownership had been transferred to
Maktoum Al Maktoum and he was trained by
David Loder
David Loder (born in Stow-on-the-Wold, Gloucestershire, England) is a trainer of Thoroughbred racehorses.
He began his professional career in Newmarket in 1992 and trained for thirteen years including for Godolphin Racing, where he trained Dub ...
. In March he ran in the
Prix Edmond Blanc
The Prix Edmond Blanc is a Group 3 flat horse race in France open to thoroughbreds aged four years or older. It is run over a distance of 1,600 metres (about 1 mile) at Saint-Cloud in late March or early April.
History
The event ...
at Saint-Cloud, and after leading for most of the way, finished second to Golani. In the Group Two
Sandown Mile
The Sandown Mile is a Group 2 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged four years or older. It is run over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 metres) at Sandown Park in late April.
Histor ...
a month later, he led from the start as usual before finishing third to Nicobar and Swalow Flight. For his next appearance, Island Sands was dropped in class to run in a minor stakes race over one mile at
Haydock Park Racecourse
Haydock Park Racecourse is a racecourse in Merseyside, North West England. Within the boundaries of the historic county of Lancashire, the racecourse is set in an area of parkland bounded by the towns of Haydock to the west, Ashton-in-Makerfield ...
in May and won by eight lengths at odds of 4/11. He returned to top class racing in the
Queen Anne Stakes
The Queen Anne Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged four years or older. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 metres), and is scheduled to take pl ...
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 ...
but after leading in the early stages he dropped away to finish last of the ten runners behind Medicean.
Assessment
In the 1999 International Classification, Island Sands was given a rating of 116, a very low mark for a
Classic
A classic is an outstanding example of a particular style; something of lasting worth or with a timeless quality; of the first or highest quality, class, or rank – something that exemplifies its class. The word can be an adjective (a ''c ...
winner, and 19
pounds below the top-rated three-year-old
Montjeu
Montjeu (4 April 1996 – 29 March 2012) was an Irish-bred, French-trained thoroughbred horse racing racehorse and sire. In a racing career which lasted from September 1998 to November 2000, he ran sixteen times and won eleven races, including ...
. The Racing Post was more generous, giving him a rating of 121.
Stud career
Island Sands was exported to stand as a stallion in China.
Pedigree
References
{{2000 Guineas Winners
1996 racehorse births
Racehorses bred in Ireland
Racehorses trained in the United Kingdom
Thoroughbred family 4-r
2000 Guineas winners