Flemensfirth
Racing colours of Sheikh Mohammed
SireAlleged
GrandsireHoist The Flag
DamEtheldreda
DamsireDiesis
SexStallion
Foaled(1992-03-16)16 March 1992
Died26 May 2023(2023-05-26) (aged 31)
CountryUnited States
ColourBay
BreederMill Ridge Farm
OwnerSheikh Mohammed
TrainerJohn Gosden
Record9: 5-1-0
Major wins
Prix Lupin (1995)
Prix Dollar (1995,1996)
Premio Roma (1996)

Flemensfirth (16 March 1992 – 26 May 2023) was a Thoroughbred racehorse and stallion, who was bred in the United States but trained in the United Kingdom during a racing career which ran from 1994 to 1997. He is best known as a successful sire of National Hunt racehorses.

Background

Flemensfirth was a bay horse bred by the Mill Ridge Farm at Lexington, Kentucky. He was sired by the dual Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Alleged out of the Diesis mare Etheldreda.[1] He was bought as a yearling for $290,000[2] by Sheikh Mohammed and sent into training with John Gosden in England.

Racing career

Flemensfirth did not appear on the racecourse until the September of his two-year-old season, when he won a Nottingham maiden race "smoothly"[3] by three lengths.

After finishing second in the listed Feilden Stakes at Newmarket on his three-year-old debut, he was campaigned exclusively in top-class company. At Longchamp in May he upset the 1–2 favourite Solar One to take the Group I Prix Lupin,[4] taking the lead two furlongs out and staying on strongly to win by a length. After finishing unplaced in the Prix du Jockey Club and the St. James's Palace Stakes he was rested for an autumn campaign. He returned to Longchamp for the Arc meeting, where he led all the way to win the Group 2 Prix Dollar by half a length from Volochine.[5]

Injury then kept Flemensfirth off the racecourse for over a year. When he returned he took his record at Longchamp to three wins in three starts by taking his second Prix Dollar, leading in the straight and staying on strongly to win by two lengths.[6] A month later he travelled to Italy to land odds of 1–2 in the Premio Roma, defeating the German mare Hollywood Dream by a neck.

By the time he appeared again in the 1997 Dubai World Cup, Flemensfirth had not lost a race for almost two years, but he was always struggling on the dirt surface, and came home last of the ten finishers behind Singspiel. It proved to be his final racecourse appearance.

Stud career

Flemensfirth has had very little success as a sire of flat-race horses, but has been highly successful as a sire of jumpers. By 2005 he was being mentioned as a "leading sire of the future" [2] and he has gone on to produce the winners of almost five hundred races. His best son is the Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Imperial Commander, while his other Grade I winners include Tidal Bay, Flemenstar, Joe Lively, Relegate, Colreevy and Pandorama. He stood for the Coolmore organisation at The Beeches stud in County Waterford[7] from 1998 until his retirement from stallion duty in 2020 and died on 26 May 2023.[8][9]

Pedigree

Pedigree of Flemensfirth, bay horse, 16 March 1992
Sire
Alleged (USA) 1974		 Hoist The Flag (USA) 1968 Tom Rolfe Ribot
Pocahontas
Wavy Navy War Admiral
Triomphe
Princess Pout (USA) 1966 Prince John Princequillo
Not Afraid
Determined Lady Determine
Tumbling
Dam
Etheldreda (USA) 1985		 Diesis 1980 Sharpen Up Atan
Rocchetta
Doubly Sure Reliance
Soft Angels
Royal Bund (USA) 1961 Royal Coinage Eight Thirty
Canina
Nato Court Martial
Safari Moon (Family 1-w)[10]

References

  1. ↑ "Flemensfirth.doc" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 December 2010. Retrieved 2 September 2011.
  2. 1 2 "Trainers nominate favourites - Farming, Frontpage". Independent.ie. 4 January 2005. Retrieved 2 September 2011.
  3. ↑ Racing Post
  4. ↑ "Results from the 1.50 race at LONGCHAMP (FR) - 14 May 1995". Racing Post. Retrieved 2 September 2011.
  5. ↑ "Results from the 2.25 race at LONGCHAMP (FR) - 30 September 1995". Racing Post. Retrieved 2 September 2011.
  6. ↑ "Results from the 3.45 race at LONGCHAMP (FR) - 5 October 1996". Racing Post. Retrieved 2 September 2011.
  7. ↑ "Stallions :: Flemensfirth". Coolmore. 24 April 2011. Archived from the original on 14 December 2010. Retrieved 2 September 2011.
  8. ↑ Peacock, Tom (21 August 2020). "Top jumps stallion Flemensfirth retired from duty aged 28". Racing Post. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
  9. ↑ "Champion NH Sire Flemensfirth Dies At 31". Thoroughbred Daily News. 26 May 2023.
  10. ↑ "Thoroughbred Family 1-w (Queen Bertha)". bloodlines.net. Retrieved 14 July 2017.
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