Vitiges (horse)

Vitigès (22 March 1973 – after 1987) was a French-bred

In September, Vitiges was dropped back even further in distance for the Prix de Seine-et-Oise over 1200 metres at Maisons-Laffitte. Racing against specialist sprinters, he started favourite but after leading for 1000 metres he was overtaken and finished fourth of the ten runners behind Kala Shikari, Raga Navarro and Mendip Man. The colt was then removed from Philippeau's stable and sent to be trained in England by Peter Walwyn at Seven Barrows near Lambourn in Berkshire. As soon as he arrived at Walwyn's stable, the colt was equipped with a softer bit which enabled him to be settled more effectively. In October, Vitiges, ridden by the first time by the Irish jockey Pat Eddery started a 22/1^[5] outsider for the Champion Stakes over ten furlongs at Newmarket. The eighteen-runner field was a strong one, including Crow, Wollow, Rose Bowl, Malacate, and Northern Treasure. The field split into two groups on either side of the wide Rowley mile straight, with Vitiges racing in the smaller group on the far side (the right side of the course from the jockeys' point of view). Vitiges' stable companion Red Regent led the far side group before being overtaken by Rose Bowl, with Vitiges making progress from the two furlong mark. In the final furlong it became apparent that the runners on the far side were well ahead of the stands-side group as Vitiges steadily wore down Rose Bowl. Vitiges took the lead in the final strides and beat Rose Bowl by a neck with Northern Treasure two and a half lengths back in third.^[4]

1977: four-year-old season

Vitiges remained in training with Walwyn as a four-year-old but never recovered his previous form in three races. He finished fourth behind the filly Heaven Knows in the

There was no International Classification of European two-year-olds in 1975: the official handicappers of Britain, Ireland and France compiled separate rankings for horses which competed in those countries. In the French Free Handicap, Vitiges was rated the second best juvenile of the season, two pounds behind Manado. The independent Timeform organisation concurred, giving him a rating of 128, two pounds below Manado and one ahead of the top British colt Wollow.^[3] In 1976, the official handicappers of Britain and France again produced separate ratings. In the French handicap, Vitiges was rated the seventh best three-year-old colt behind Youth, Crow, Empery, Exceller, Malacate and Twig Moss. The British handicapper, however, rated Vitiges the best three-year-old of 1976, ahead of Pawneese, Wollow, Crow and Empery. Timeform gave him a rating of 132, placing him alongside Wollow and the sprinter Lochnager as the third best horse of the year behind Youth and Crow.^[4] In 1977 Timeform gave him a rating of 115 §, with the § (or "squiggle") indicating a horse who is "ungenerous, faint-hearted or a bit of a coward".^[6]

Stud career

In the autumn of 1976, it was announced that Vitiges had been syndicated at £23,000 a share (giving him a theoretical value of £960,000) and would begin his stallion career at the Someries Stud at Newmarket in 1978.^[4] In fact, he began his stud career earlier than expected, covering several mares at the end of his abbreviated 1977 season.^[6] He was exported to Japan in 1986.^[7]

The most successful of his offspring was

• Vitiges was inbred 4 × 4 to Prince Rose, meaning that this stallion appears twice in the fourth generation of his pedigree.

References