Inkerman (horse)

Inkerman (4 April 1975 – after 1987) was an American-bred

Inkerman was a "workmanlike, short-backed"[2] bay horse with no white markings bred in Kentucky by Mrs. John W. Hanes. As a yearling he was consigned to the Keeneland Select sale and was bought for $47,000 by the bloodstock agency Horse France.^[2] He entered the ownership of Simon Fraser and was sent to Europe where he was sent into training with Vincent O'Brien at Ballydoyle.

He was sired by Vaguely Noble who won the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in 1968 before becoming a successful breeding stallion whose best progeny included Dahlia, Exceller and Empery.^[3] Inkerman's dam Crimea was a fast and precocious filly who won the Cheveley Park Stakes in 1963 and was a distant female-line descendant of the influential British broodmare Molly Adare.^[4]

Racing career

1978: three-year-old season

Inkerman began his racing career in a

Inkerman was equipped with a tongue strap when he ran in the Irish Derby at the Curragh on 1 July. He produced a much better performance than he had done at Epsom and finished fourth behind Shirley Heights, Exdirectory and Hawaiian Sound, beaten by less than a length and a half by the winner. The colt's next two runs were disappointing. At the end he finished fourth to Sexton Blake in the Gordon Stakes at Goodwood Racecourse after Piggott employed exaggerated waiting tactics. In the Blandford Stakes at the Curragh in August he came home third behind Valley Forge and Rathdowney, looking to be unsuited by the prevailing soft ground.^[2]

On 23 September the third running of the Joe McGrath Memorial Stakes over ten furlongs at

In October Inkerman was put up for auction at Hollywood Park and was sold for $1,000,000, a world record auction price for a horse in training.^[2] He remained in the United States and ran thenceforth in the colours of Edward Hudson.

For his efforts in 1978, Inkerman was given a rating of 126 by the Independent Timeform organisation, making him even pounds inferior to their top-rated three-year-old Ile de Bourbon. In the official International Classification he was rated six pounds behind Ile de Bourbon, making him the seventh-best three-year-old colt of the season in Europe.^[2]

1979: four-year-old season

In 1979 Inkerman was based in California where he was trained by