Gainsborough (horse)

Thoroughbred racehorse infobox
horsename = Gainsborough


caption =
sire = Bayardo
grandsire = Bay Ronald
dam = Rosedrop
damsire = St. Frusquin
sex = Stallion
foaled = 1915
country = Great Britain flagicon|UK
colour = Bay
breeder = Lady James Douglas
owner = Lady James Douglas
trainer = Alec Taylor, Jr.
record = 9: 5-1-1
earnings = US$72,400 (£ equivalent)
race = Autumn Stakes (1917)
2,000 Guineas (1918)
Epsom Derby (1918)
St. Leger Stakes (1918)
Ascot Gold Cup (1918)
awards= 13th U.K. Triple Crown Champion (1918)
Leading sire in GB & Ireland (1932 & 1933)
honours =
updated= December 23, 2006

Gainsborough (1915-1945) was an British Thoroughbred racehorse who won the English Triple Crown in 1918.

Owned and bred by Lady James Douglas (1854-1941), she named him for the town of Gainsborough, Lincolnshire because she liked how it sounded. Gainsborough was sired by Bayardo, who also sired the 1917 Triple Crown winner Gay Crusader, and was out of the mare Rosedrop who won the 1910 Epsom Oaks. Gainsborough's damsire was St. Frusquin who won the 1896 2,000 Guineas.

Lady Douglas sent Gainsborough to trainer Alec Taylor, Jr.'s training center in Manton, Wiltshire to prepare the colt for racing. Sent to the races at age two, Gainsborough made three starts at the Newmarket Racecourse but showed limited promise, winning just one race. As a three-year-old, Gainsborough's winning performance in the 2,000 Guineas marked the first time a horse bred by a woman won one of the British Classic Races and the first time a Classic winner carried a woman's colors. Ridden by jockey Joseph Childs, to help the War effort he donated his winnings to his 4th Hussars regiment to which he was attached.

Following his win in the 2,000 Guineas, Gainsborough won the most prestigious race in England, the Epsom Derby. He then earned victory in the Ascot Gold Cup at a distance of just over two miles and in September won the St. Leger Stakes by three lengths over a strong field to become the 13th U.K. Triple Crown Champion in history. Gainsborough finished second in the Jockey Club Stakes following which he was retired to Lady Douglas's newly established Harwood Stud horse breeding operation at Woolton Hill, near Newbury, Berkshire.

uccess as a sire

The leading sire in Great Britain & Ireland in 1932 and 1933, Gainsborough enjoyed a brilliant stud career. A breeding source for great stamina, he was the sire of a number of Classic Race winners such as:
* Hyperion - won the 1933 Epsom Derby and St. Leger Stakes and himself was a champion sire six times.
* Solario - winner of the 1925 St. Leger Stakes and the 1926 Ascot Gold Cup who went on to be 1937's leading sire in England
* Singapore - won the 1930 St. Leger Stakes
* Orwell - won the 1930 2,000 Guineas

Among Gainsborough's daughters were:
* Mah Mahal, the dam of Mahmoud who won the 1936 Epsom Derby and was the Leading sire in North America in 1946
* Una Cameron - dam of 1931 2,000 Guineas winner Cameronian
* Painted Vale - bred to Nasrullah, she produced the 1949 1,000 Guineas and Epsom Oaks winner, Musidora

In 1940, failing health forced Lady James Douglas to sell her Harwood Stud, including Gainsborough. Under an agreement with new owner Herbert Blagrave, Gainsborough remained there until his death in 1945. He is buried on the 120-acre Harwood property that was eventually renamed Gainsborough Stud in his honor and since 1981 has operated as Gainsborough Stud Management Ltd. under the ownership of Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

References

* [http://www.pedigreequery.com/gainsborough Gainsborough's pedigree and racing stats]
* [http://www.horseracinghistory.co.uk/hrho/action/viewDocument;jsessionid=3FF8916E880D7EC8C17217C47121DCEB?id=868 Gainsborough at the United Kingdom's National Horseracing Museum]