Gladiateur

Thoroughbred racehorse infobox
horsename = Gladiateur


caption = Gladiateur's portrait by John Miller
sire = Monarque
grandsire = The Emperor
dam = Miss Gladiator
damsire = Gladiator
sex = Stallion
foaled = 1862
country = France flagicon|France
colour = Dark Bay
breeder = Count Frédéric de Lagrange
owner = Count Frédéric de Lagrange
trainer = Tom Jennings, Sr.
record = 19: 16-0-1
earnings = US$155,856 (equivalent)
race = 2,000 Guineas (1865)
Epsom Derby (1865)
St. Leger Stakes (1865)
Grand Prix de Paris (1865)
Grand Prix du Prince Impérial (1865)
Newmarket Derby (1865)
Derby Trial Stakes (1866)
Claret Stakes (1866)
Grand Prix de l'Impératrice (1866)
Ascot Gold Cup (1866)
La Coupe (1866)
Grand Prix de l'Empereur (1866)
awards= 2nd U.K. Triple Crown Champion (1865)
honours = French Horse Racing Hall of Fame
Life-sized statue at Longchamp Racecourse
Prix Gladiateur at Longchamp Racecourse
updated= January 10, 2007

Gladiateur (1862-1876) was a French Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse who won the English Triple Crown in 1865. Gladiateur is called a legend by France Galop and "One of the best horses ever to grace the turf in any century" by the National Sporting Library of Middleburg, Virginia.

A large colt, Gladiateur was a horse who raced best at long distances. He was bred by Count Frederic de Lagrange at his Haras de Dangu at Dangu, Eure in the Haute-Normandie region of France. He was sired by the British horse Gladiator who had been purchased at age nine by French interests and brought to stand at stud in France.

Gladiateur's owner sent him to England to be trained by Tom Jennings, Sr. at Newmarket Racecourse. Developing the colt slowly, he did not begin racing until the fall of 1864 and won only one of the three races he entered. At age three, things were very different as Gladiateur was the most dominant horse in European racing while becoming the first foreign horse to win the English Triple Crown. After winning the 1865 2,000 Guineas then the most prestigious race in England, the Epsom Derby, Gladiateur was sent to race in Paris. In front of deliriously happy fans who dubbed him "The Avenger of Waterloo", he easily won the Grand Prix de Paris.

At age four, Gladiateur continued to dominate, winning numerous important races in England and France including a forty-length victory in the Ascot Gold Cup. He was retired to stud duty at the end of his four-year-old season having won sixteen of his nineteen races. He first stood at Middle Park Stud in Kent in 1867 and 1868 and then at his owner's Haras de Dangu in France 1869 and 1870. Following the invasion of France by Germany during the Franco-Prussian War, Count Frederic de Lagrange shipped his horses out of the country to the safety of England where they were sold at a Tattersalls auction. Gladiateur was purchased by an English breeder who brought him back to Middle Park Stud but following his new owner's death, in 1873 he was sold to Dunmow Stud Farm in Essex. Suffering from a disease of the scaphoid bone, Gladiateur was euthanized in January 1876. He is buried at Dunmow Stud Farm but his tail is at the National Horseracing Museum in Newmarket.

Gladiateur was not very successful as a sire but his performance on the track remains one of the most impressive in Thoroughbred horse racing history.

References

* Thibault, Guy. "L'épopée de Gladiateur" (English: "The Epic Story of Gladiateur") (1990) Union Nat. Interpr. Cheval ISBN 295046050X
* [http://www.pedigreequery.com/gladiateur Gladiateur's pedigree and racing stats]
* [http://www.france-galop.com/COURSES/noms1.htm France Galop website on the Prix Gladiateur and biography] (French language)
* [http://www.tbheritage.com/Portraits/Gladiateur.html Biography of Gladiateur at the National Sporting Library's Thoroughbred Heritage website]