The Minstrel (11 March 1974 – 3 September 1990) was a Canadian-bred, Irish-trained

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 Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic pr ...

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 ...

. Bred in

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...

, he was sold as a yearling and exported to Europe, where he was campaigned in Ireland and the United Kingdom. As a two-year-old The Minstrel was unbeaten in three races, including the

Dewhurst Stakes The Dewhurst Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to two-year-old colts and fillies. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 7 furlongs (1,408 metres ...

, but lost two of his first three starts in 1977. He was then moved up in distance and won his remaining three races: the

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 ...

, the

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 of 1 ...

and the

King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes The King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at Ascot o ...

. These performances led to The Minstrel becoming horse of the year in the UK and later being inducted into the

Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame The Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame was established in 1976 to honour those who have made a significant contribution to the sport of harness and Thoroughbred horse racing in Canada. It is located at Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, Ontario. The H ...

. The Minstrel spent his stud career in the United States, where he had considerable success as a sire of winners.

Background

The Minstrel was a "stocky" chestnut colt with a white blaze, four white

stockings Stockings (also known as hose, especially in a historical context) are close-fitting, variously elastic garments covering the leg from the foot up to the knee or possibly part or all of the thigh. Stockings vary in color, design, and transparen ...

and a gentle disposition, foaled at

E. P. Taylor Edward Plunket Taylor, CMG (January 29, 1901 – May 14, 1989) was a Canadian business tycoon, investor and philanthropist. He was a famous breeder of Thoroughbred race horses, and a major force behind the evolution of the Canadian horse-racing ...

Windfields Farm Windfields Farm was a six square kilometre (1,500 acre) Thoroughbred horse breeding farm that was founded by businessman E. P. Taylor in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada. Origin The first stable and breeding operation of E. P. Taylor originated w ...

Oshawa Oshawa ( , also ; 2021 population 175,383; CMA 415,311) is a city in Ontario, Canada, on the Lake Ontario shoreline. It lies in Southern Ontario, approximately east of Downtown Toronto. It is commonly viewed as the eastern anchor of the G ...

, Ontario, Canada. The Minstrel was the son of

Northern Dancer Northern Dancer (May 27, 1961 – November 16, 1990) was a Thoroughbred who, in 1964, became the first Canadian-bred horse to win the Kentucky Derby. He then became one of the most successful sires of the 20th century. He is considered a Canad ...

out of Fleur, a daughter of

Victoria Park Victoria Park may refer to: Places Australia * Victoria Park Nature Reserve, a protected area in Northern Rivers region, New South Wales * Victoria Park, Adelaide, a park and racecourse * Victoria Park, Brisbane, a public park and former golf ...

. He was a three-quarter-brother to the 1970 English

Triple Crown Triple Crown may refer to: Sports Horse racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing (United States) ** Triple Crown Trophy ** Triple Crown Productions * Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing * Trip ...

champion

Nijinsky II Nijinsky (21 February 1967 – 15 April 1992) was a Canadian-bred, Irish-trained champion Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He was the outstanding two-year-old in Europe in 1969 when he was unbeaten in five races. In the following season, he bec ...

(who was by Northern Dancer out of Flaming Page, the dam of Fleur). The Minstrel was purchased for $200,000 ($ million inflation adjusted) at the 1975

Keeneland Sales Keeneland Sales is an American Thoroughbred auction house in Lexington, Kentucky founded in 1935 as a nonprofit racing/auction entity on 147 acres (0.59 km2) of farmland west of Lexington, which had been owned by Jack O. Keene. A division of ...

yearling auction by the British Bloodstock Agency (based in Ireland), acting on behalf of a group headed by

Robert Sangster Robert Edmund Sangster (23 May 1936 – 7 April 2004)

(1936–2004). The colt was shipped to Ireland under trainer

Vincent O'Brien Vincent O'Brien (9 April 1917 – 1 June 2009) was an Irish race horse trainer from Churchtown, County Cork, Ireland. In 2003 he was voted the greatest influence in horse racing history in a worldwide poll hosted by the ''Racing Post''. In ...

and ridden by champion jockey

Lester Piggott Lester Keith Piggott (5 November 1935 – 29 May 2022) was an English professional jockey and trainer. With 4,493 career flat racing wins in Britain, including a record nine Epsom Derby victories, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest f ...

Racing career

1976: two-year-old season

As a two-year-old The Minstrel won the 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 ...

Moy Stakes 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 ...

on his debut and then moved up in class to win the Group Three Larkspur Stakes over seven furlongs at

Leopardstown Leopardstown () is a suburb of Dublin in Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, within the traditional County Dublin, Ireland. Located at the foot of the Dublin Mountains, it is a residential suburb with institutional lands and a large racecourse. It is ...

. In October he was sent to England to contest the

at Newmarket. Ridden by Piggott, he started 6/5 favourite against ten opponents and won by four

lengths 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 Intern ...

from Saros. In the Free Handicap, a rating of the best two-year-olds to race in Britain, he was given a rating of 123 pounds, eight pounds below the top-rated

J O Tobin J. O. Tobin (March 28, 1974 – May 22, 1994) was an American-bred thoroughbred racehorse. As a two-year-old, he was sent to Europe, where he won his first three races, including the Richmond Stakes and Champagne Stakes, and was the highest-rated ...

1977: three-year-old season

In the spring of 1977, The Minstrel was campaigned over one mile. He won the 2000 Guineas Trial on heavy ground at Ascot Racecourse on 2 April. Four weeks later, he started 6/5 favourite for The 2000 Guineas Stakes but after recovering from a poor start he appeared to be beaten for speed in the closing stages as he finished third of the eighteen runners behind

Nebbiolo Nebbiolo (, ; pms, nebieul ) is an Italian red wine grape variety predominantly associated with its native Piedmont region, where it makes the ''Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita'' (DOCG) wines of Barolo, Barbaresco, Roero, G ...

and Tachypous. In the

Irish 2000 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 ...

at the Curragh on 14 May he finished strongly to reverse the form with Nebbiolo but was beaten a short head by Pampapaul. Despite two classic defeats, Piggott retained his belief in the colt and told O'Brien and Sangster that "If you run The Minstrel in the Derby, I'll ride him." The Minstrel was then moved up in distance to contest the 198th running of the Derby over one and a half miles at

Epsom Downs Racecourse Epsom Downs is a Grade 1 racecourse on the hills associated with Epsom in Surrey, England which is used for thoroughbred horse racing. The "Downs" referred to in the name are part of the North Downs. The course, which has a crowd capacity of 13 ...

. Ridden as usual by Piggott, he started at odds of 5/1 in a field of twenty-two runners, with the French-trained

Blushing Groom Blushing Groom (8 April 1974 – 6 May 1992) was a French champion Thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse and sire (horse), sire. Background He was bred by American businessman John McNamee Sullivan and was raced by Aga Khan IV, HH Aga Khan IV. A ...

being made 9/4 favourite. Vincent O'Brien, as usual, left nothing to chance, stuffing cotton wool in the horse's ears until he got to the start – the first recorded example of this calming influence being used. The Minstrel was not among the early leaders but moved forward to take third place at the turn into the straight. Approaching the final quarter mile he moved up to challenge the leader Hot Grove, ridden by

Willie Carson William Fisher Hunter Carson, OBE (born 16 November 1942) is a retired jockey in thoroughbred horse racing. Life and career Best known as "Willie", Carson was born in Stirling, Scotland in 1942. He was apprenticed ...

. The two colts raced side by side throughout the closing stages before The Minstrel gained the advantage in the last strides and prevailed by neck. Blushing Groom was five length further back in third. The Minstrel's success was a fifth in the race for Vincent O'Brien and a record eighth for Piggott. At the end of the month The Minstrel followed up with a win in the Irish Derby at the Curragh, beating Lucky Sovereign by one and a half lengths and surviving an objection by the rider of the runner-up. In July The Minstrel raced against older horses for the first time in Britain's most prestigious all-aged race, the

over one and a half miles at Ascot. The race attracted a strong international field including

Bruni Bruni can refer to: * Bruni (surname) * Bruni, Texas * Bruni (horse), an Irish-bred Thoroughbred racehorse * Bruni Olympic .380 BBM blank firing revolver See also * Bruno (disambiguation) Bruno may refer to: People and fictional characters * ...

Exceller Exceller (May 12, 1973 – April 7, 1997) is widely considered one of the best horses to race in the United States not to win a year-end championship. Despite his exemplary achievements as a racehorse, and his unique accomplishment in being the ...

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

(

Prix du Jockey Club The Prix du Jockey Club, sometimes referred to as the French Derby, is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Chantilly over a ...

) and

Crow A crow is a bird of the genus ''Corvus'', or more broadly a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. Crows are generally black in colour. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term "raven" is not pinned scientifical ...

(

St Leger The St Leger Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Doncaster over a ...

). Piggott settled the colt in the middle of the field before moving up on the outside in the straight to challenge for the lead. He caught the British-trained five-year-old Orange Bay inside the final furlong and held on by a short head in a

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 ...

as Orange Bay rallied strongly. In August a half-share in the colt was sold back to his breeder for $4,500,000. The threat of import restrictions following an outbreak of

metritis Metritis is inflammation of the wall of the uterus, whereas endometritis is inflammation of the functional lining of the uterus, called the endometrium. The term pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) is often used for metritis. Definitions Postpart ...

in Europe led to The Minstrel's owners abandoning plans to run him in the

Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris, France, over a distance ...

and he was sent to the United States almost immediately. By the end of his racing career, out of his nine starts The Minstrel won seven races, finishing second and third once each.

Assessment and honours

In the 1977 poll organised by the Racegoers' Club, The Minstrel took twenty-six of the thirty-seven votes to win the title of British Horse of the Year. In the same year he was given a rating of a 135 by the independent

Timeform Timeform is a sports data and content provider located in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. Founded in 1948, it provides systematic information on form to punters and others involved in the horse racing industry. The company was purchased by t ...

organisation, making him the second highest-rated horse in Europe, two pounds behind his stable companion

Alleged In law, an allegation is a claim of an unproven fact by a party in a pleading, charge, or defense. Until they can be proved, allegations remain merely assertions.

. In their book ''A Century of Champions'', John Randall and Tony Morris rated The Minstrel a "superior" Derby winner and the sixteenth best Irish racehorse of the 20th century.

Stud record

The Minstrel was re-acquired by Windfields Farm and syndicated for $9 million to stand at stud in Maryland. After the sale of Windfields Farm's Maryland division in 1988, The Minstrel was sent to

Overbrook Farm William T. Young (February 15, 1918 – January 12, 2004) was an American businessman and major owner of thoroughbred racehorses. William T. Young attended the University of Kentucky where he was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity. ...

Lexington, Kentucky Lexington is a city in Kentucky, United States that is the county seat of Fayette County, Kentucky, Fayette County. By population, it is the List of cities in Kentucky, second-largest city in Kentucky and List of United States cities by popul ...

. The Minstrel's son

Palace Music Joseph Will Oldham (born January 15, 1970) is an American singer-songwriter and actor. From 1993 to 1997, he performed and recorded in collaboration with dozens of other musicians under variations of Palace (Palace, Palace Flophouse, Palace Br ...

won the

Champion Stakes The Champion Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 1 mile and 2 furlong ...

in 1984 and had an international impact at stud, siring the U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee

Cigar A cigar is a rolled bundle of dried and fermented tobacco leaves made to be smoked. Cigars are produced in a variety of sizes and shapes. Since the 20th century, almost all cigars are made of three distinct components: the filler, the binder l ...

and the leading Australian runner Naturalism. Other

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 ...

winners sired by The Minstrel included: *

L'Emigrant L'Emigrant (26 April 1980 – ca. 1995) was an American-bred French-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire who was one of the best horses of his generation in Europe at two and three years of age. He won five of his twelve races and never ...

, foaled 1980 (won

Poule d'Essai des Poulains Molof (Ampas, Poule, Powle-Ma) is a poorly documented Papuan language spoken by about 200 people in Molof village, Senggi District, Keerom Regency. Classification Wurm (1975) placed it as an independent branch of Trans–New Guinea, but Ros ...

) * Treizieme, 1981 (

Grand Critérium Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and c ...

) *

Bakharoff Bakharoff (foaled 12 February 1983) was an American-bred British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He was the highest-rated European two-year-old of 1985 when he won the William Hill Futurity and the Chesham Stakes as well as finishing s ...

, 1983 (

William Hill Futurity The Vertem Futurity Trophy is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to two-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Doncaster over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 metres), ...

) * Minstrella, 1984 (

Phoenix Stakes The Phoenix Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Ireland open to two-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at the Curragh over a distance of 6 furlongs (1,207 metres), and it is sc ...

Moyglare Stud Stakes The Moyglare Stud Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Ireland open to two-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run at the Curragh over a distance of 7 furlongs (1,408 metres), and it is scheduled ...

Cheveley Park Stakes The Cheveley Park Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to two-year-old fillies. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 6 furlongs (1,207 metres), and it i ...

) * Melodist, 1985 (

Oaks d'Italia Oaks may refer to: Plants * Oak trees or shrubs in the genus ''Quercus'' in the plant family Fagaceae * Other trees not in genus ''Quercus'', see Oak (disambiguation) People * Age Oks (known professionally as Agnes Oaks), Estonian ballerina ...

Irish Oaks The Irish Oaks is a Group 1 flat horse race in Ireland open to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run at the Curragh over a distance of 1 mile and 4 furlongs (2,414 metres), and it i ...

) * Silver Fling, 1985 (

Prix de l'Abbaye The Prix de l'Abbaye de Longchamp is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to thoroughbreds aged two years or older. It is run at Longchamp over a distance of 1,000 metres (about 5 furlongs) ...

) * Musical Bliss, 1986 (

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 ...

) * Opening Verse, 1986 (

Breeders' Cup Mile The Breeders' Cup Mile is a Grade 1 Weight for Age stakes race for thoroughbred racehorses three years old and up, run on a grass course. It has been conducted annually as part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships since the event's incept ...

) The Minstrel was

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 ...

at a veterinary clinic in Lexington on 3 September 1990 and buried at Overbrook Farm.

Pedigree

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Minstrel 1974 racehorse births 1990 racehorse deaths Racehorses bred in Canada Racehorses trained in Ireland Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductees Irish Classic Race winners Thoroughbred family 8-f Epsom Derby winners King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes winners