Fifinella (horse)

Thoroughbred racehorse infobox
horsename = Fifinella


caption = Fifinella, 1916
sire = Polymelus
grandsire = Cyllene
dam = Silver Fowl
damsire = Wildfowler
sex = Mare
foaled = 1913
country = Great Britain flagicon|UK
colour = Chestnut
breeder = Sir Edward Hulton
owner = Sir Edward Hulton
trainer = Dick Dawson
record = 8: 4-2-0
earnings = US$25,906 (equivalent)
race = Cheveley Park Stakes (1915)
Epsom Derby (1916)
Epsom Oaks (1916)
awards=
honours =
updated= July 20, 2007

Fifinella (1913 - not found) was a British Thoroughbred who is the last racehorse to ever win both the Epsom Derby and Epsom Oaks and the last filly to ever win the Derby.

Bred and raced by Sir Edward Hulton, Fifinella was a daughter of Champion Sire Polymelus and out of the mare, Silver Fowl. Conditioned by Dick Dawson, on the track at age two the frequently raucous Fifinella won two races including the important Cheveley Park Stakes under jockey Steve Donoghue.

As a three-year-old, Fifinella was ridden by Joe Childs. Racing against mostly colts, after acting up at the starting gate, Fifinella finished second by a neck in the 1916 1,000 Guineas. However, the "flying" filly came back to win England's most prestigious race, the Epsom Derby followed by the country's most prestigious race for females, the Epsom Oaks.

Retired at the end of the 1916 season, Fifinella met with only modest success as a broodmare. The most notable of the eight race winners she produced was the colt Press Gang (b. 1927) who won the juvenile Middle Park and Rous Memorial Stakes and at age three the Princess of Wales and Gordon Stakes.

Author Roald Dahl, born the year of Fifinella's great racing successes, used her name for his female characters in his 1943 book, "The Gremlins".

References

* [http://www.pedigreequery.com/fifinella Fifinella's pedigree and partial racing stats]