Flying Fox (horse)

Thoroughbred racehorse infobox
horsename = Flying Fox


caption = Flying Fox, c.1905
sire = Orme
grandsire = Ormonde
dam = Vampire
damsire = Galopin
sex = Stallion
foaled = 1896
country = Great Britain flagicon|UK
colour = Bay
breeder = Eaton Stud
owner = Hugh Grosvenor, 1st Duke of Westminster
trainer = John Porter
record = 11: 9-2-0
earnings = $203,200
race = New Stakes (1898)
Criterion Stakes (1898)
2,000 Guineas (1899)
Epsom Derby (1899)
St. Leger Stakes (1899)
Eclipse Stakes (1899)
Jockey Club Stakes (1899)
Princess of Wales's Stakes (1899)
awards= 8th U.K. Triple Crown Champion (1899)
Leading sire in France (1904, 1905, 1913)
honours =
updated= November 23, 2006

Flying Fox (1896-1911) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1899 English Triple Crown Races. He was sired by Orme who in turn was sired by Ormonde, the 1886 Triple Crown winner. Their victories made owner Hugh Grosvenor, 1st Duke of Westminster, the only person to own two English Triple Crown winners.

From the high-strung mare, somewhat aptly named Vampire, Flying Fox was a very difficult colt to deal with and as such his handlers raced him for only two years. However, he met with enormous success under trainer John Porter, whom the National Horseracing Museum says was "undoubtedly the most successful trainer of the Victorian era." Flying Fox won three of his five starts at age two, and then at age three went undefeated while becoming only the 8th horse in history to win the U.K. Triple Crown Champion. In his sixth and last race of his season and of his career, he won the Jockey Club Stakes at Newmarket Racecourse.

The Duke of Westminster died near the end of 1899 and the following year Flying Fox and many of the other horses in his stable were put up for auction. Purchased for a record 37,500 guineas by the prominent French sportsman Edmond Blanc, he was brought to Blanc's Haras de Jardy horse breeding operation at Marnes-la-Coquette in what is today part of the western suburbs of Paris.

Standing at stud at Haras de Jardy, Flying Fox enjoyed considerable success and was the leading sire in France three times. Among his first crop was the colt Ajax, a winner of the Prix du Jockey Club as well as the Grand Prix de Paris who himself became a leading sire. Flying Fox's other progeny included numerous Group One winners. He was also the grandsire of Teddy, who sired Sir Gallahad III plus the mare La Troienne who is widely regarded as one of the most influential broodmares in the history of modern Thoroughbred breeding. Descendants of Flying Fox include Gallant Fox and Citation, the 1930 and 1948 United States Triple Crown Champions and U.S. Hall of Fame colt Coaltown.

Flying Fox died at Haras de Jardy on March 21, 1911 at the age of fifteen. His skeleton is at the horse museum at Château de Saumur with a memorial at Eaton Stud in Cheshire, North West England.

References

* [http://www.pedigreequery.com/flying+fox Flying Fox's pedigree and racing stats]
* [http://www.horseracinghistory.co.uk/hrho/action/viewDocument?id=867 Flying Fox at the National Horseracing Museum]