Signorinetta (1905–1928) 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 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 ...
. In a racing career which lasted from 1907 to 1908 she ran thirteen times and won three races. Although most of her career was undistinguished she showed outstanding form at Epsom in the summer of 1908 when she won both
The Derby and
The Oaks. Trained by her eccentric and unconventional Italian owner, she won the Derby as a 100/1 outsider, creating one of the biggest upsets in racing history. After her retirement from racing she had some success as a broodmare.
Background
She was bred, owned and trained by
Cavaliere
The Italian honours system is a means to reward achievements or service to the Italian Republic, formerly the Kingdom of Italy including the Italian Social Republic.
Orders of chivalry
Italian Republic
There are five orders of knighthood ...
Edoardo Ginistrelli (1833–1920), who had come to England from Italy in the early 1880s after selling his stud and stable near
Mount Vesuvius
Mount Vesuvius ( ; it, Vesuvio ; nap, 'O Vesuvio , also or ; la, Vesuvius , also , or ) is a somma-stratovolcano located on the Gulf of Naples in Campania, Italy, about east of Naples and a short distance from the shore. It is one of s ...
. Signorinetta's
dam
A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, a ...
was called Signorina who had been unbeaten in nine races as a two-year-old including the
Middle Park Plate
The Middle Park Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to two-year-old colts. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 6 furlongs (1,207 metres), and it is s ...
. Signorina won two more the following season and was runner up in
The Oaks, and won the
Lancashire Plate
The Lancashire Plate was a flat horse race in Great Britain open to Thoroughbreds aged two years and over. It was run over seven furlongs at Manchester Racecourse in September from 1888 to 1893. It was one of the most valuable races in the country ...
as a four-year-old. However she had not produced a live foal for 10 consecutive seasons, before foaling Signorino, a colt who was second in the
2000 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 ...
and then third in the Derby.
At the same stables in
Newmarket, Suffolk
Newmarket is a market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. Located (14 miles) west of Bury St Edmunds and (14 miles) northeast of Cambridge. It is considered the birthplace and global centre of thoroughbred hor ...
was a horse called Chaleureux, a nine
guinea
Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...
stallion, which was used as a 'teaser', i.e. his job was to detect when mares
came into season. Ginistrelli noticed that Signorina neighed to Chaleureux each day when he passed her box on his exercise round. Mr Ginistrelli decided the two horses were in love and let them mate. In horse-breeding circles, allowing a prize mare to breed from an unregarded stallion was deemed total folly. However, Ginistrelli based his decision on the "boundless laws of sympathy and love". Signorinetta was the resultant foal.
Rather than send his filly to a professional, Ginistrelli trained her himself at
Newmarket, Suffolk
Newmarket is a market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk district of Suffolk, England. Located (14 miles) west of Bury St Edmunds and (14 miles) northeast of Cambridge. It is considered the birthplace and global centre of thoroughbred hor ...
.
Racing record
1907: two-year-old season
Before the Derby Signorinetta was unplaced in her first five races as a juvenile. Her only win was as a two-year-old in a
nursery handicap at Newmarket. Ginistrelli's methods of training had been subject to much laughter by other racing professionals.
1908: three-year-old season
![The new book of the horse (Pl](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c1/The_new_book_of_the_horse_%28Pl._8%29_%288537592706%29.jpg)
Ginistrelli campaigned Signorinetta ambitiously from the start of the year. On her seasonal debut she ran in 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 ...
at Newmarket and finished unplaced behind
Rhodora
''Rhododendron canadense'', the rhodora or Canada rosebay, is a deciduous flowering shrub that is native to northeastern North America.
Classification
Today's botanists consider the rhodora to be a distant relative of the other North American ...
. Two weeks later she ran against colts in the
Newmarket Stakes
The Newmarket Stakes is a Listed flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old colts and geldings. It is run over a distance of 1 mile and 2 furlongs (2,012 metres) on t ...
over ten furlongs. She started at odds of 25/1 and finished fifth to Primer although she reportedly ran well for most of the way before fading in the closing stages.
A week before the Derby
Lord Alfred Douglas
Lord Alfred Bruce Douglas (22 October 1870 – 20 March 1945), also known as Bosie Douglas, was an English poet and journalist, and a lover of Oscar Wilde. At Oxford he edited an undergraduate journal, ''The Spirit Lamp'', that carried a homoer ...
dreamt that Signorinetta would win and so a placed a five-pound bet on her, despite friends telling him not to. On 3 June 1908, ridden by
Billy Bullock
Charles William Bullock was a Classic winning flat racing jockey, who in 1908 gained the rare distinction of having won the Derby and Oaks on the same horse, Signorinetta. He was also four times champion jockey of Denmark.
Early life
Bullock ...
, she started at odds of 100/1 against seventeen colts for
The Derby in front of a huge crowd which included the
King
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
and
Queen
Queen or QUEEN may refer to:
Monarchy
* Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom
** List of queens regnant
* Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king
* Queen dowager, the widow of a king
* Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...
and several other members of the
Royal Family
A royal family is the immediate family of kings/queens, emirs/emiras, sultans/ sultanas, or raja/ rani and sometimes their extended family. The term imperial family appropriately describes the family of an emperor or empress, and the term ...
. Signorinetta was not among the early leaders but she began to make rapid progress from half way and hit the front two furlongs from the finish. She was never in any danger of defeat and won easily by two lengths from Primer and Llangwm in a time of 2:39.8. Despite the mile and a half trip and the exceptionally hot weather, the filly looked as though she had hardly exerted herself afterwards: according to one report "she would not have blown a pinch of snuff off a sixpence". Signorinetta's time in the Derby was considerably faster than that which was recorded by the Derby winners,
Ard Patrick
Ard Patrick (1899–1923) was an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. One of the leading two-year-olds of 1901, he improved in 1902 to win The Derby, defeating the filly Sceptre. He returned from Injury problems to ...
, Diamond Jubilee and
Rock Sand
Rock Sand (1900–1914) was a British Thoroughbred race horse and sire. In a career which lasted from the spring of 1902 until October 1904 he ran twenty times and won sixteen races. He was a leading British two-year-old of his generation, w ...
.
[Leicester, Sir Charles, ''Bloodstock Breeding'', J.A. Allen & Co, London, 1969] To date Ginistrelli, along with
Arthur Budgett
Arthur Budgett (26 May 1916 – 21 June 2011) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse trainer who was one of only two people to have bred, owned and trained two English Derby winners.
Based at Whatcombe Estate in Berkshire, Budgett was British fl ...
are the only two successful owner/breeder/trainers of the Derby winner. Signorinetta was only the fourth filly to win the race and to date only two fillies have won since. In 2002 ''The Observer'' rated her win as one of the ten greatest shocks in sporting history
[
] and she is only one of the three 100-1 Derby winners.
Two days after the Derby she attempted to become only the third filly to win the Derby and
Epsom Oaks
The Oaks Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old fillies. It is run at Epsom Downs over a distance of 1 mile, 4 furlongs and 6 yards (2, ...
double. She started at odds of 3/1 against twelve fillies including Rhodora who started favourite. Half a mile into the race Signorinetta's task was made considerably easier when French Partridge fell and brought down Rhodora. Signorinetta raced in second place until the turn into the straight, when she moved into the lead and ran on strongly to win easily by three quarters of a length from Lord Falmouth's filly Courtesy, with Santeve third. In contrast to the silence which had initially greeted her win in the Derby, Signorinetta's second Classic win was greeted enthusiastically and Ginistrelli was personally congratulated by the King. Signorinetta then finished unplaced in her remaining three races.
On her first start after Epsom, Signorinetta started 13/8 joint-favourite for the Royal Stakes over ten furlongs at
Newbury but finished fourth to White Eagle, being apparently unsuited by the slow pace.
Assessment
In their book ''A Century of Champions'' Tony Morris and John Randall rated Signorinetta a below average winner of the Oaks and the worst Derby winner of the 20th century arguing that Llangwm, Sea Sick, Norman, Sir Archibald and White Eagle all ran well below their best form in the Derby.
Stud record
By 1911 Ginistrelli was a poor man, living modestly in Newmarket. He wanted to return to Italy and was able to do this by selling 'the apple of his eye'. In December 1911 Ginistrelli sold Signorinetta to
Lord Rosebery
Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, 1st Earl of Midlothian, (7 May 1847 – 21 May 1929) was a British Liberal Party politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from March 1894 to June 1895. Between the death of ...
. She had been put up for auction before but did not make her reserve price of 7,500 guineas. It was said when she was sold, the reserve price was 10,000 guineas. Signorinetta produced several foals that won £5,021, including:
*1912 filly, Pasta by
Thrush
''The Man from U.N.C.L.E.'' is an American spy fiction television series produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Television and first broadcast on NBC. The series follows secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, who work for a secret ...
, dam of Hunting Song, six times Leading sire in New Zealand
*1916 colt, Rizzio (GB) Cicero
*1918 colt, The Winter King (by Son In Law), sire of Barneveldt (FR) won
Grand Prix de Paris
The Grand Prix de Paris is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Longchamp over a distance of 2,400 metres (about 1½ miles), and it ...
and sired
Pont l'Eveque
*1920 filly, Erycina by Lemberg, dam of four winners including Clydesdale
Scottish Grand National
The Scottish Grand National is a Grade 3 National Hunt steeplechase in Great Britain which is open to horses aged five years or older. It is run at Ayr, Scotland, over a distance of about 4 miles (3 ...
[Morris, Simon; ''Tesio Power 2000 - Stallions of the World'', Syntax Software]
She died at the age of 23 in 1928.
['']Daily Mirror
The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print ...
'' 31 May 2008
Pedigree
References
Horse Racing History
{{Epsom Oaks Winners
1905 racehorse births
Racehorses bred in the United Kingdom
Racehorses trained in the United Kingdom
1928 racehorse deaths
Thoroughbred family 23-a
Godolphin Arabian sire line
Epsom Derby winners
Epsom Oaks winners