Nijinsky, a land mark for the British Thoroughbred horse racing
In Britain, the British Classics are an episode of flat horse races for the Thoroughbreds. These races are for the horses that are three-year-old and are run only once a year. They mark the social calendar for the British throughout the year. The series
consist of the 2000 Guineas Stakes, 1000 Guineas Stakes, Epsom Oaks, Epsom Derby and the St Leger.
It was back in 1902 that Sceptre became the only flat race horse that was able to win four British Classic Races outright but before him it was Formosa in 1868 who did win the same series of four races but shared the victory in the 2000 Guineas with another
horse.
Winning the feat of 2000 Guineas Stakes, the Derby and the St Leger qualifies the contestant for the Triple Crown but the recent decades have hardly witnessed any horse achieving that benchmark. This is considered the most esteemed accomplishment of a Thoroughbred
racehorse.
The reason why winning the Triple Crown has become more of a challenge lately is because majority of the horses now specialise on a limited and specified range of distances thus they fail to get this title under their belt.
The horse that won the UK Triple Crown was Vincent O’Brien’s Nijinsky who was being ridden by Lester Piggott. The horse was born in 1967 and expired in 1992. He is recognised as being one of the greatest Thoroughbreds in horse racing industry.
After retiring, Nijinsky became the leading sire in Britain and Ireland along with being the leading broodmare sire in North America. It was in year 1969 that Nijinsky became the two-year old champion for both England and Ireland.
In 1970 he won the 2000 Guineas Stakes, the Epsom Derby and the Irish Derby along with beating the most formidable and credible horses at the Ascot.
Not only the victories and the career earnings’ records were goose bumpy but the fact that the horse-jockey pair was such a hit in all races, at all distances and with all sort of competition made the successes all the more wonderful.
The only factor that faded the glory just a bit out of the enviable record was the defeat at Longchamp otherwise the record still spreads out like an impeccable sheet of snow.
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