Grundy (horse)
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| Grundy | |
|---|---|
| Sire | Great Nephew |
| Grandsire | Honeyway |
| Dam | Word From Lundy |
| Damsire | Worden |
| Sex | Stallion |
| Foaled | 1972 |
| Country | Ireland  |
| Colour | Chestnut |
| Breeder | Overbury Stud |
| Owner | Carlo Vittadini |
| Trainer | Peter Walwyn |
| Record | 11: 8-2-0 |
| Earnings | £326,421 |
| Major Racing Wins, Awards and Honours | |
| Major Racing Wins | |
| Sirenia Stakes (1974) Dewhurst Stakes (1974) Champagne Stakes (1974) Irish Derby Stakes (1975) Irish 2,000 Guineas (1975) King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes (1975) |
|
| Racing Awards | |
| British Champion Two-Year-Old Colt (1974) British Champion Thee-Year-Old Colt (1975) Timeform rating: 137 |
|
| Infobox last updated on: 14:37, Thursday June 12, 2008 (UTC). | |
Grundy (1972-1992) was an Irish-bred Thoroughbred Champion racehorse. Bred by Overbury Stud of Overbury, in Worcestershire, England, he was a son of Great Nephew who also sired Epsom Derby winner Shergar and the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame filly, Carotene. His dam, Word From Lundy, was a daughter of the French runner Worden, whose wins included Italy's Premio Roma and the 1953 Washington, D.C. International Stakes in the United States.
Grundy was owned and raced by Carlo Vittadini, the Italian banker who owned a stud farm in Italy as well as Beech House Stud in Newmarket, England. Conditioned for racing as a two-year-old by trainer Peter Walwyn, after winning his 1974 debut race, Grundy won the Sirenia Stakes, the Dewhurst Stakes and the Champagne Stakes. Unbeaten in four starts, he entered 1975 as a winterbook favorite for the British Classic Races but his conditioning was interrupted as a result of an injury from another horse at his stables.
Ridden by jockey Pat Eddery, Grundy started his three-year-old campaign with a second-place finish in both the Greenham Stakes and in the first of the British Classics, the 2,000 Guineas. Grundy then won the Irish 2,000 Guineas, Epsom Derby, Irish Derby, and then captured what the British racing world and major newspapers dubbed the "Race of the Century."
[edit] Britain's "Race of the Century"
In The Guardian newspaper's list of the "10 greatest horse races of all time," the match between Grundy and Bustino in the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Ascot Racecourse on July 26, 1975 was ranked number two.
Three-year-old Grundy was up against a very solid field in the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes that was open to older horses. The participants included Eclipse Stakes winner, Star Appeal, Nelson Bunker Hunt's mare, Dahlia, one of the greatest female horses in world Thoroughbred racing history, and Lady Beaverbrook's four-year-old horse Bustino, the winner of the previous year's St. Leger Stakes Classic.
Two of Bustino's "rabbit" stablemates set a blistering early pace in the 2,414 metre (1½ miles) race that was designed to wear down Grundy. With half a mile left to run, Bustino and jockey Joe Mercer moved into the lead. He was ahead by four lengths by the time they entered the top of the straight when Pat Eddery on Grundy mounted a charge. The two horses began pulling away from the rest of the field and with a furlong left to run, Grundy caught and passed Bustino who in turn refused to quit and retook the lead. Just fifty yards from the finish line, a relentless Grundy fought back and recaptured the lead, holding off Bustino's continued furious effort to win by half a length with Dahlia another five lengths behind in third.
Grundy's winning time of 2:26.98 demolished the race record by almost two and a half seconds. As of 2007, no horse has come close to equaling it. As sometimes happens, a race of this nature took a toll on both horses. Bustino never raced again, and Grundy ran only once more, finishing a tired fourth in the Benson and Hedges Gold Cup after which he was retired to stud.
[edit] As a sire
A successful stallion, Grundy's Group One winners include the 1980 Epsom Oaks winner, Bireme, the 1981 Gran Premio d'Italia winner, Kirtling, and the 1983 Ascot Gold Cup victor, Little Wolf. Until 1984, Grundy stood at The National Stud when he was exported to a breeding operation in Japan where he died in 1992.
