May-day (1831 – 30 May 1834) was a British

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 who won the classic

1000 Guineas The 1000 Guineas Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old fillies. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 ...

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

in 1834. On her only subsequent start she was fatally injured in the Oaks Stakes at Epsom.

Background

May-day was a chestnut

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 ...

bred near

Brandon Brandon may refer to: Names and people *Brandon (given name), a male given name * Brandon (surname), a surname with several different origins Places Australia *Brandon, a farm and 19th century homestead in Seaham, New South Wales *Brandon, Q ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

by her owner Robert Wilson, 9th Baron Berners. She was sired by Wilson's own stallion Lamplighter, a successful racehorse who won the Craven Stakes, The Whip and several King's Plates at Newmarket. May-day's dam, the Rubens mare, was an unnamed daughter of

Rubens Sir Peter Paul Rubens (; ; 28 June 1577 – 30 May 1640) was a Flemish artist and diplomat from the Duchy of Brabant in the Southern Netherlands (modern-day Belgium). He is considered the most influential artist of the Flemish Baroque traditio ...

out of Tippitywitchet and was one of the outstanding broodmares of her time. Her other foals included the

Ascot Gold Cup The Gold Cup 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 2 miles 3 furlongs and 210 yards (4,014 ...

winner

Camarine Camarine (1828 – 20 March 1841) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. After finishing second on her only start as a two-year-old, Camarine was undefeated for the next three years, winning thirteen consecutive races at distan ...

(foaled 1828), The Derby winner

Phosphorus Phosphorus is a chemical element with the symbol P and atomic number 15. Elemental phosphorus exists in two major forms, white phosphorus and red phosphorus, but because it is highly reactive, phosphorus is never found as a free element on Ear ...

(1834) and the 1000 Guineas winner Firebrand (1839). Both Phosphorus and Firebrand were sired by Lamplighter making them full siblings to May-day.

Racing career

1833: two-year-old season

Until 1913 there was no requirement for British racehorses to have names, and many horses were known by the name of their owner or their pedigree. The filly who would become known as May-day made her first appearance as "Ld Berners's ch. f. by Lamplighter, out of Camarine's dam" in the Criterion Stakes at Newmarket on 28 October 1830. She was made the 4/1 second favourite in a field of thirteen two-year-olds, but finished unplaced behind Bentley.

1834: three-year-old season

The Lamplighter filly made her first appearance as a three-year-old in the twenty-first running of the 1000 Guineas Stakes at Newmarket on 1 May ( May Day) 1834. She was ridden by John Barham Day and started at odds of 6/1 in field of seven fillies for the classic over the Ditch Mile course. The field was considered a good one and the early pace was strong. Day produced the filly with a late run on the outside to take the lead inside the final furlong and won comfortably by a

length 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 Interna ...

from Mr Walker's filly Velocity with Amadou in third and the favourite, Rosalie, unplaced. The ''New Sporting Magazine'' described her as "a fine, racing-like mare" whose "speed and stoutness" made her a serious contender for the Oaks. Following the 1000 Guineas, Lord Berners named his filly ''May-day'' "in honour of the day of her first victory". Four weeks after her win at Newmarket, May-day was moved up in distance to contest the Oaks over one and a half miles at Epsom. She started the 7/1 third favourite against fourteen opponents. The race was delayed by half an hour by a series of false starts and the early pace was unusually slow. May-day, ridden by Frank Boyce was restrained by her jockey until the straight where she moved up on the outside and had "the appearance of a winner" when she fell heavily approaching the final furlong. May-day got to her feet but had sustained a complete fracture of her left foreleg just above the fetlock and was immediately

euthanised Animal euthanasia (euthanasia from el, εὐθανασία; "good death") is the act of killing an animal or allowing it to die by withholding extreme medical measures. Reasons for euthanasia include incurable (and especially painful) conditio ...

. The race was won by the 20/1 outsider

Pussy ''Pussy'' is a used as a noun, an adjective, and—in rare instances—a verb in the English language. It has several meanings, as slang, as euphemism, and as vulgarity. The most common as a noun, it means "cat", as well as "coward or weaklin ...

Pedigree

References

{{1000 Guineas winners 1831 racehorse births 1834 racehorse deaths Racehorses bred in the United Kingdom Racehorses trained in the United Kingdom Thoroughbred family 27 Byerley Turk sire line 1000 Guineas winners