who can tell me more on the racing careeers of f flower and minstrella

forest flower, ian balding, one of my fav horses, backed her heavily for english guinnes but got injured a few days before race and i did my dough, got it back in the irish version though if memory serves me right

Forest Flower became a favourite of racegoers due her diminutive stature; but what she lacked in size she more than made up for in courage and ability. Standing at just 14 hands and 2 inches she had a job to see over the racecourse rails on her first start at Newbury in 1986. Ridden by Steve Cauthen she skipped clear of a useful field to win decisively and in so doing booked a trip to Ascot for the Queen Mary Stakes (Gr3). At the royal meeting Pat Eddery took over in the saddle and never had a moment of worry as the little filly won in exciting fashion yet again. The Cherry Hinton Stakes (Gr3) came next and it was the first time that Forest Flower met the highly talented filly Minstrella. In the race Forest Flower was made to work for the first time as she was pushed right to the line by her tall grey rival; the press at the time likened the two protagonists to David and Goliath, such were the physical differences between the two fillies. The next round came in Ireland in the Heinz 57 (Gr1) at Phoenix Park and it was Minstrellas turn land the spoils in an epic duel that was one of the highlights of the flat racing season. Next stop for Forest Flower was the Mill Reef Stakes (Gr2) at Newbury and another victory there set up another clash with her old rival back at Newmarket in the Cheveley Park Stakes (Gr1). This turned out to be as controversial as it was decisive in deciding which horse would be crowned champion two year old filly of the year. Forest Flower won the race in good style by two lengths from Minstrella, but had to survive a lengthy stewards enquiry after the race due to an incident in which she bumped her main opponent at the two furlong marker. Although the incident had in no way affected the result of the race, the ambiguity of the existing rules made it possible for a horse to be disqualified for interference of any nature. The connections of the second horse appealed against the decision of the local stewards, Portman Square hosted an enquiry involving lawyers and video replays run in slow motion over and over again. The deciding question was had Tony Ives, Forest Flowers Jockey made sufficient moves to try and prevent his mount from bumping her rival. By the end of the enquiry the appeal panel had taken the opinion that although probably the moral winner Forest Flowers jockey had been guilty of a riding offence that by strict definition of the rules required the horse to be disqualified and placed last. Thankfully for the future of racing the case was a catalyst in the abolishment of the rule that saw many worthy winners deprived of their prize through interference that had no bearing on the result of the race.

It was widely expected that the pony sized Forest Flower would not be nearly as good a three year old as she had been at two; and in a late spring she was slow to come to hand. Having missed all of the recognised trials she ended up missing The English Guineas as well. Plans were changed and she was re routed to take on Minstrella and ten others in the Irish One Thousand Guineas (Gr1) on the Curragh. The favourite on the day was Michael Stoutes talented filly Milligram, who had finished second at Newmarket and went on to win the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (Gr1) at the end of the year. However, it was

apind, thanks. whaw what a year for fillies then, with miesque as well as milligram, and who won that years coronation at ascot, was it a cecikl filly , did ministrella run after the irish race

Milligram won 1987 Coronation stakes

and indian skimmer was there that year as well

Indian Skimmer beat miesque that year in the Prix Diane..

The 1970's and 80's were vintage decades - far more competitive, and consequently interesting, than nowadays -
when Godolphin just hoover up every available winning and Group placed 2-yr-old - whilst Coolmore run a battalion from Ballydoyle in every event.

Don't know about that...look at Shareef Dancer, El Gran Senor, Secreto, etc. There was a point in the mid-80s when colts became too valuable to race.

onlooker, well said, and when trainers knew their top horses, not needing to run 3/4 in same race to find out, another dig at coolmore

Pace makers and team tactics in the 70s and 80s ?

Indian Skimmer had a pacemaker in the Diane...and I think Miesque had one, too.

thank you velasquez..

Sure, Grundy V Bustino in the King George - weren't there a few for Bustino, to test Grundy's stamina? And the same again when Sagace was disqualified in the Arc - one of the Wildenstein pacemakers caused havoc and Rainbow Quest got the race.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4KvQ5fxsdE

Grundy V Bustino is on YouTube...they mention the pacemakers...

Race of the century...

Yes, Valesquex - and that was because Sheikh Mo had entered into the game and was bidding against everybody - so Sangster's burgeoning Coolmore operation were only too happy to have/make most of their top stallions available as soon as possible, so that they could 'meet the yearling sales demand' and cash on accordingly.

Even so, Vincent did not usually have multiple runners in all the big races, and Sheikh Mo's simply ran in his own colours on a similar mostly singular entrant basis.

The individual Englehard, Abdullah, Bunker Hunt, Wildenstein - even Lord Howard and Lady Beaqverbrook - type owners had more of a chance than from the 90's onwards to nowadays.

You're right, Onlooker - there was more variety. I enjoyed the racing more back then. Maybe it's because we were younger and there was still a novelty factor. One big difference is the way fillies' races are worth so much now and it's quite rare to see fillies and mares take on the colts the way they used to...like Triptych, Pebbles, Allez France, All Along, etc. racing against the colts on a regular basis...it's worth bearing in mind that even the mighty Zarkava and Zenyatta only have one all-sexes, all-aged race victory each.

Yes fellas it all seemed better then....

Good point, re: the Fillies.

Perhaps they upped the Female prize-money to get them to stay in their on sex races, as you could get some small, relatively weak, fillies races - and that, of course, meant poorer quality fillies, and subsequent brood-mares, getting 'artificial' Black-Type.

Perhaps that's when our over-production of poor yearlings from every mare that had a leg on each corner started.