Princely Gift

Princely Gift (1951–1973) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a racing career which lasted from 1953 until 1955 he ran twenty-three times and won nine races. After showing good, but unexceptional form in his first two seasons, he improved significantly in the summer of 1955 and ended his career with a record-breaking win in the Portland Handicap. Having been awarded one of the highest Timeform figures of the decade, Princely Gift was retired to stud at the end of the season and had considerable success as a sire of winners.

Background

Princely Gift was a bay horse with no white

The independent Timeform awarded Princely Gift a peak rating of 137 in 1955, making him their highest-rated older horse of the season and the equal third highest British-trained horses of the 1950s. Despite his lofty rating, he was not the top sprinter of the year, that honour going to the three-year-old Pappa Fourway. (139).^[7]

In their book A Century of Champions, based on a modified version of the Timeform system, John Randall and Tony Morris rated Princely Gift the second best British or Irish-trained horse of his generation, behind The Derby winner Never Say Die. He was also rated the eleventh-best British or Irish-trained sprinter of the 20th century.^[3]

Stud record

Princely Gift proved to be a highly successful breeding stallion. His best winners included

• Princely Gift was inbred 3 x 4 to Blandford, meaning that this stallion appears in both the third and fourth generations of his pedigree. He was also inbred 4 x 4 to Phalaris.

References