Fanfreluche (horse)

Thoroughbred racehorse infobox
horsename = Fanfreluche


caption =
sire = Northern Dancer
grandsire = Nearctic
dam = Ciboulette
damsire = Chop Chop
sex = Filly
foaled = 1967
country = Canada flagicon|Canada
colour = Dark Bay/Brown
breeder = J. Louis Lévesque
owner = J. Louis Lévesque
trainer = Yonnie Starr
record = 21-11-6-2
earnings = $238,688
race = Princess Elizabeth Stakes (1969)
Natalma Stakes (1969)
Manitoba Derby (1970)
Alabama Stakes (1970)
Benson & Hedges Invitational Handicap (1970)
Quebec Derby (1970)
awards = United States Co-Champion 3-Year-Old Filly (1970)
Canadian Horse of the Year (1970)
honours = Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame (1981)
Fanfreluche Stakes at Woodbine Racetrack
updated= October 12, 2006

Fanfreluche (1967-1999) was a Canadian-bred Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. She was named by her French Canadian owner for the title character of a popular children's television show on the French-language division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

Successfully raced in Canada as a two-year-old, at age three Fanfreluche's performances in both Canada and the United States earned her the Eclipse Award for Outstanding 3-Year-Old Filly and the Sovereign Award for Canadian Horse of the Year.

At the end of her three-year-old racing season, Fanfreluche was sold as a broodmare prospect to prominent American horseman Bertram R. Firestone for a then world-record price of $1.3 million. Bred to notable stallion Buckpasser, in 1972 she produced the two-time Canadian Horse of the Year, L'Enjoleur.

The Kidnapping

In June 1977, while in foal to Secretariat, Fanfreluche was abducted from Claiborne Farm near Paris, Kentucky. In December, five months after her disappearance, the FBI located her some 158 miles south near the small town of Tompkinsville not far from the Tennessee border. Fanfreluche was being kept by a family who said they had found her wandering along the country road. Returned safely to Claiborne Farm, in the spring of 1978 Fanfreluche gave birth to her foal, a colt given the French language name, "Sain Et Sauf" which in English translates as Safe And Sound.

A few years later in February 1983, the Irish racehorse Shergar would also be the victim of a kidnapping but unlike Fanfreluche, Shergar was never found.

Fanfreluche died in July 1999 of old age and was buried at Big Sink Farm in Midway, Kentucky.

References

* [http://www.pedigreequery.com/fanfreluche Fanfreluche's pedigree and stats]
* [http://www.canadianhorseracinghalloffame.com/thoroughbred/1981/Fanfreluche.asp Fanfreluche at the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame]