Dactylographer (21 April 1975 – 31 October 1996) was an American-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. From the first crop of the foals sired by Secretariat, he showed great promise as a two-year-old when he won two of his three races including the Group One William Hill Futurity. In the following year he finished third in the Derby Trial Stakes but finished unplaced in his three subsequent races. He later stood as a breeding stallion in Florida with limited success.

Background

Dactylographer was a bay horse with a white star and white markings on his hind feet, bred in Kentucky by the Greek shipping magnate Stavros Niarchos. He was from the first crop of foals sired by the 1973 Triple Crown winner Secretariat. His dam, Artists Proof was a high class racemare who won the Pocahontas Stakes and finished third in the Kentucky Oaks. She was descended from the broodmare Lalun who won the Kentucky Oaks and produced both Never Bend and Bold Reason.^[2][3] Artists Proof was in foal (pregnant) to Secretariat when she was offered at the Keeneland Fall Breeding Stock Sale in November 1974 and was bought for $385,000 by Niarchos: Dactylographer was born the following April. The colt was sent to race in Europe and was trained throughout his racing career by Peter Walwyn at Lambourn.^[4]

Racing career

Assessment

There was no International Classification of European two-year-olds in 1977: the official handicappers of Britain, Ireland, and France compiled separate rankings for horses which competed in those countries. In the British Free Handicap, Sporting Yankee was given top-weight of 120 pounds, thirteen pounds behind the top-rated Try My Best. The independent Timeform organisation gave him a rating of 119, making him eleven pounds inferior Try My Best. In their annual Racehorses of 1977 Timeform described him as a "tall, rather lightly made" juvenile who was likely make a good stayer.^[4] Timeform gave him a rating of 115 in 1978.^[7]

Stud record

After his retirement from racing, Dactylographer returned to the United States to become a breeding stallion^[7] and was based at Comfort Acre Farm in Florida.^[8] He later moved to the nearby Flying "M" Acres, where his handler described him as being "crazier than a bedbug".^[9] The most successful of his offspring was Ronbra whose 19 wins included the Grade III Pennsylvania Governors Cup.^[10] Dactylographer died at South Star Ranch in Texas on 31 October 1996 at the age of twenty-one.

Pedigree

References