Regal Rose (foaled 7 May 1998) is 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 and

broodmare 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 four ...

. She was undefeated in a brief racing career which consisted of two races as a two-year-old in the summer and autumn of 2000. After winning 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 ...

at Ascot Racecourse on her debut she defeated twelve opponents to take the

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 ...

Cheveley Park Stakes in September. She remained in training in 2001 but suffered a leg injury in spring and was retired later that year without contesting another race. She has had some success as a broodmare.

Background

Regal Rose is a "tall, scopey" bay mare with a 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 and owned by the Newmarket-based

Cheveley Park Stud Cheveley Park Stud is a thoroughbred racehorse ownership and breeding operation in Newmarket, Suffolk, UK, which has bred and owned many notable horses. It is the oldest stud in Newmarket, the "capital" of British racing, with evidence of ...

.She was sired by Danehill, a sprinter who won the

Cork and Orrery Stakes The Platinum Jubilee Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged four years or older. Three-year-olds foaled in the Southern Hemisphere are also eligible. It is run at A ...

and Haydock Sprint Cup in 1989. He went on to become a highly successful breeding stallion, producing the winners of more than one thousand races including 156 at

Grade I In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

level. Among his best offspring are

Dylan Thomas Dylan Marlais Thomas (27 October 1914 – 9 November 1953) was a Welsh poet and writer whose works include the poems "Do not go gentle into that good night" and "And death shall have no dominion", as well as the "play for voices" ''Under ...

Duke of Marmalade Duke of Marmalade (12 March 2004 – 5 November 2021) was an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He is best known for winning five consecutive Group One races in 2008, for which he was named European Champion Older Horse. Upon retirement ...

Rock of Gibraltar The Rock of Gibraltar (from the Arabic name Jabel-al-Tariq) is a monolithic limestone promontory located in the British territory of Gibraltar, near the southwestern tip of Europe on the Iberian Peninsula, and near the entrance to the Mediterr ...

George Washington George Washington (February 22, 1732, 1799) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Father who served as the first president of the United States from 1789 to 1797. Appointed by the Continental Congress as commander of th ...

and

North Light North Light (foaled March 1, 2001) is a retired Thoroughbred racehorse, and active sire, bred in Ireland but trained in the United Kingdom. He is best known as the winner of The Derby in 2004. He currently stands at the Adena Springs Stud ...

. Regal Rose's dam, Ruthless Rose showed no ability as a racehorse but came from a good family, being a daughter of Unfurled who also produced the successful American sprinter Pleasure Cay and the St James's Palace Stakes winner Shaadi. Unfurled was in turn a granddaughter of the broodmare Miel, whose other descendants have included

Rodrigo de Triano Rodrigo de Triano (foaled 27 May 1989 – 5 August 2014) was an English Thoroughbred Champion racehorse. Background Foaled in Kentucky, and bred and raced by leading British horseman, Robert Sangster, he was out of the mare Hot Princess and sir ...

and the Australian champion Snippets. During her racing career, Regal Rose was trained at Newmarket by

Michael Stoute Sir Michael Ronald Stoute (born 22 October 1945) is a Barbadian British Thoroughbred horse trainer in flat racing. Career Stoute, whose father was the Chief of Police for Barbados, left the island in 1964 at the age of 19 to become an assis ...

Racing career

2000: two-year-old season

Regal Rose began her racing career at Ascot Racecourse on 28 July when she was one of eight fillies to contest a

over six

furlongs 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 ...

. Ridden by Johnny Murtagh, she started the 10/11 favourite ahead of Mujado who had finished second on her only previous start. She was restrained by Murtagh in the early stages before squeezing through a gap and moving into second behind Mujado in the last quarter mile. She began to show her lack of experience but finished strongly to take the lead 75 yards from the finish and won by three quarters of 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 Mujado with Velvet Glade in third. After an absence of almost two months, Regal Rose was moved up sharply in class for the

Cheveley Park Stakes over six furlongs at

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 ...

on 26 September in which she was ridden by Frankie Dettori. Johnny Murtagh rode the stable's more fancied runner Enthused who started 11/8 favourite after wins in the

Princess Margaret Stakes The Princess Margaret Stakes is a Group 3 flat horse race in Great Britain open to two-year-old fillies. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 6 furlongs (1,207 metres), and it is scheduled to take ...

and the

Lowther Stakes The Lowther Stakes is a Group 2 flat horse race in Great Britain open to two-year-old fillies. It is run at York over a distance of 6 furlongs (1,207 metres), and it is scheduled to take place each ...

. Before the race Stoute explained that Enthused was a more precocious type whilst Regal Rose was likely to be better as a three-year-old. The Lowther Stakes runner-up Khulan was made second favourite on 9/2 with Regal Rose, despite her lack of experience being made the third choice in the betting on 11/2. The other ten runners included

Sequoyah Sequoyah (Cherokee language, Cherokee: ᏍᏏᏉᏯ, ''Ssiquoya'', or ᏎᏉᏯ, ''Se-quo-ya''; 1770 – August 1843), also known as George Gist or George Guess, was a Native Americans in the United States, Native American polymath of the Ch ...

, the Aidan O'Brien-trained winner of the Moyglare Stud Stakes, Santolina (

Sirenia Stakes The Sirenia Stakes is a Group races, Group 3 Flat racing, flat Horse racing, horse race in Great Britain open to two-year-old horses. It is run at Kempton Park Racecourse, Kempton Park over a distanc ...

), Lady Lahar ( Futurity Stakes) and Autumnal (

Windsor Castle Stakes The Windsor Castle Stakes is a Listed flat horse race in Great Britain open to two-year-old horses. It is run over a distance of 5 furlongs (1,003 metres) at Ascot as part of the Royal As ...

). Regal Rose started slowly and fought against Dettori's attempts to restrain her as the 66/1 outsider Toroca set the pace. The filly began to make progress at half way and overtook Toroca approaching the final furlong. She hung slightly to the right in the closing stages but stayed on to win by a length, with Toroca getting the best of a four-way

photo-finish A photo finish occurs in a sporting race when multiple competitors cross the finishing line at nearly the same time. As the naked eye may not be able to determine which of the competitors crossed the line first, a photo or video taken at the finis ...

for second ahead of Mala Mala, Autumnal and Sequoyah. After the race Dettori commented "She has a good cruising speed and an excellent turn of foot. With a faster pace she would have been more impressive".

2001: three-year-old season

As a three-year-old Regal Rose was aimed at the

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 ...

and was fancied for the race despite missing the trial races owing to the prevailing soft ground, but then sustained an injury to her left hind leg. It was hoped that the filly would return 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 ...

in June but she had further training problems, missed the race and was retired in August without running again. Cheveley Park's manager Chris Richardson commented "She had a lot of ability, but unfortunately had a setback in the spring and other niggling problems. We were hoping she would come back at first, but it was thought she would not perform back at the level we had hoped. She's an unbeaten Group 1 winner and it's disappointing we haven't seen her back, as we believe she was very good and wanted her to have the opportunity to reaffirm that".

Breeding record

Regal Rose was retired from racing to become a broodmare at Cheveley Park Stud. She has produced seven foals and four winners: *Regal Royale, a bay colt (later gelded), foaled in 2003, sired by

Medicean The House of Medici ( , ) was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first began to gather prominence under Cosimo de' Medici, in the Republic of Florence during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the Mu ...

. Won seven races. *Regal Riband, bay filly, 2004, by Fantastic Light. Won one race. Dam of Regal Realm (

Prestige Stakes The Prestige Stakes is a Group 3 flat horse race in Great Britain open to two-year-old fillies. It is run at Goodwood over a distance of 7 furlongs (1,408 metres), and it is scheduled to take place ...

). *Merchant of Medici, bay colt (later gelded), 2007, by Medicean. Won seven races. *Regal Heiress, bay filly, 2008, by

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. Failed to win in four races. *Royal Banker, bay colt (later gelded), by Medicean. Won two races. *Regal Flame, bay filly, 2012, by Pivotal. Unraced. *Bobby Wheeler, bay colt, 2013, by Pivotal. Won one race to date (December 2015).

Pedigree

*Like all of Danehill's offspring Regal Rose is inbred 4x4 to the mare Natalma. This means that she occurs twice in the fourth generation of her pedigree.

References

{{reflist 1998 racehorse births Racehorses bred in the United Kingdom Racehorses trained in the United Kingdom Thoroughbred family 20-a Undefeated racehorses