Sire Alleged Dam Etheldreda Foaled 16 March 1992 Species Equus caballus Trainer John Gosden | Grandsire Hoist the Flag Damsire Diesis Country United States Parents Alleged Sex Stallion | |
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Owner Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Children Imperial Commander, Tidal Bay | ||
Lot 19 flemensfirth ex petite ballerina cheltenham december sale 2015
Flemensfirth is a retired Thoroughbred racehorse and active 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.
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Flemensfirth
Background
Flemensfirth is 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. He was bought as a yearling for $290,000 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" 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, 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 II Prix Dollar by half a length from Volochine.
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. A month later he traveled 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" 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 and Pandorama. He currently stands for the Coolmore organisation at The Beeches stud in County Waterford.