Night Off

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Night Off
Sire
1000 Guineas (1965)
Awards
Top-rated British two-year-old filly (1964)
Timeform rating 124 in 1964, 113 in 1965

Night Off (1962 – after 1978) was an Irish-bred, British-trained

Royal Ascot
being her only notable performance in five subsequent races. She had some success as a broodmare, despite producing only five foals.

Background

Night Off was a bay mare with no white markings[1] bred by her owner, Major Lionel Brook Holliday at his Cleaboy stud in County Westmeath. Holliday sent the filly to his private La Grange stable at Newmarket, Suffolk where she was trained by Walter Wharton.[2]

Night Off was the most notable racehorse sired by Holliday's stallion Narrator, who won the

guineas.[3]

Racing career

1964: two-year-old season

Night Off made her first racecourse appearance at

20/1 and won from the odds-on favourite Fall In Love with Greengage in third place.[4] In the Free Handicap, a rating of the best two-year-olds to have raced in Britain that year, she was the top-rated filly, nine pounds behind the leading colt Double Jump.[5]

1965: three-year-old season

In the spring of 1965, Night Off was one of many British horses to be affected by a respiratory infection which disrupted her training. Despite her problems she recovered sufficiently to contest the

1000 Guineas over the Rowley Mile course at Newmarket on 29 April. The filly was ridden by the Australian jockey Bill Williamson and started the 9/2 favourite in a field of sixteen. Night Off won the classic by a neck from Yami, with Mabel three lengths away in third.[3] Night Off was then aimed at the Oaks, but when tried over ten furlongs in the Musidora Stakes at York Racecourse she finished unplaced behind Arctic Melody. On 21 May, Night Off was withdrawn from the Oaks by Holliday who thought she had been drugged or poisoned, stating that the filly was "in a terrible state, almost dead."[6] A drug test was administered by the Jockey Club but was negative.[7]

In June Night Off was brought back in distance for the

Royal Ascot. She looked the likely winner in the straight but was caught on the line and beaten a short head by Greengage.[8] Her form then tailed off and she ran poorly in her three remaining races before being retired at the end of the year.[3]

Assessment

The independent

1000 Guineas.[9]

Stud career

Night Off produced only five foals in twelve years at stud, but three of them were winners. The best of her progeny was the filly Madame's Share (sired by Major Portion) who won

Prix d'Astarte in 1971. Another of her daughters, Sweet Relations, produced Montekin, winner of the 1983 Waterford Crystal Mile. Her son Baldur, (by Breton), showed promise as a two-year-old in 1974 when he finished third to Grundy in the Dewhurst Stakes but he did not go on to any major successes.[10]

Pedigree

Pedigree of Night Off (IRE), bay mare, 1962[11]
Sire
Narrator (GB)
1951 		Nearco (ITY)
1935 		Pharos Phalaris
Scapa Flow
Nogara Havresac
Catnip
Phase (GB)
1939 		Windsor Lad Blandford
Resplendent
Lost Soul Solario
Orlass
Dam
Persuader (GB)
1954 		Petition (GB)
1944 		Fair Trial Fairway
Lady Juror
Art Paper Artist's Proof
Quire
Palma Rosa (GB)
1941 		Mahmoud Blenheim
Mah Mahal
Tsianina Asterus
Merry Girl (Family: 16-g)[12]

References

  1. ^ "Night Off photo". sporthorse-data.com. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
  2. ^ "La Grange Stables – History". Edunlop.com. Archived from the original on 28 August 2013. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
  3. ^
    ISBN 0-354-08536-0
    .
  4. Evening Times
    . 28 April 1965. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
  5. ^
    ISBN 0-85112-902-1
    .
  6. ^ UPI (21 May 1965). "Choice in England Scratched Amid Charges of Drugging". The New York Times. p. 25.
  7. ^ Staff (24 May 1965). "Market Best Guide After Derby Trials". The Times. No. 56329. p. 5.
  8. Glasgow Herald
    . Retrieved 5 June 2013.
  9. ISBN 978-1-901570-15-1
    .
  10. ISBN 0-900599-40-5
    .
  11. ^ "Night Off pedigree". equineline.com. 8 May 2012. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
  12. ^ "Polly Agnes - Family 16-g". Thoroughbred Bloodlines. Retrieved 5 June 2013.
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