Glimmerglass
Aug. 15, 2009, 10:22 PM
Then again sixteen (one scratch) of them all went to post in the same race (http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/racing/article6796941.ece) - so ignoring a grey was impossible :D
The race was instituted after Peter Jensen, a director of Newmarket, came across a greys' race while visiting the Melbourne Carnival. “When we took the idea to the British Horseracing Authority for approval, they thought it was an April Fools' prank,” Prosser said.
Those who habitually back greys for their distinctive colour are seemingly on the horns of a dilemma. Not so, according to Prosser. “There are roan greys, steel greys and greys that are nearly white,” he said. “No two will be identical.”
UK's Independent Aug 16 "Colourful spectacle results from many shades of grey" (http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/racing/colourful-spectacle-results-from-many-shades-of-grey-1772806.html)
And here yesterday, many an eye was gladdened by one of the oddities in the calendar, a race exclusively for grey horses. And although only an inconsequential low-grade sprint, there was no denying its aesthetic value to a charmed audience. Dappled light glinted on dappled hides as 16 silvered darlings paraded beneath a cathedral roof of trees before massing for a dashing white charge down the track.
The jockeys' motley contrasted strikingly with the cool-hued coats of their monochrome mounts. Not that shades of grey, from the near-black tempered steel of Isabella Romee to the milky paleness of Sir Edwin Landseer, are dull, though. There was Nickel Silver, with platinum flashes among the iron; Hits Only Jude, with his rocking-horse rump and the winner Sarah's Art, her pewter set off by a snow-white mane and tail.
Grey horses comprise a tiny proportion of the thoroughbred population and at one time the colour was endangered, until the emergence of the brilliant grey The Tetrarch as a sire of note nearly a century ago. His influential descendants to have propagated the smoky jacket in the past include Mahmoud, Grey Sovereign, Abernant, Zeddaan, Kalamoun and Caro, a job being carried on today by the likes of Linamix, Highest Honor, Dalakhani and Verglas.
None of yesterday's contestants – the race was a six-furlong 0-85 handicap – could be mentioned in the same breath as the Flat game's amazing greys, but every one of them owes his or her grizzled coat to The Tetrarch. Sarah's Art is a seven-greats grand-daughter of the 1913 juvenile champion.
Image: "I bet on the grey" - Jim Crowley on Sarah's Art emerges victorious (http://www.independent.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00234/27-SPORACGETTY_234023s.jpg) in the Super 6 handicap for Grey Horses at Newmarket
The race was instituted after Peter Jensen, a director of Newmarket, came across a greys' race while visiting the Melbourne Carnival. “When we took the idea to the British Horseracing Authority for approval, they thought it was an April Fools' prank,” Prosser said.
Those who habitually back greys for their distinctive colour are seemingly on the horns of a dilemma. Not so, according to Prosser. “There are roan greys, steel greys and greys that are nearly white,” he said. “No two will be identical.”
UK's Independent Aug 16 "Colourful spectacle results from many shades of grey" (http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/racing/colourful-spectacle-results-from-many-shades-of-grey-1772806.html)
And here yesterday, many an eye was gladdened by one of the oddities in the calendar, a race exclusively for grey horses. And although only an inconsequential low-grade sprint, there was no denying its aesthetic value to a charmed audience. Dappled light glinted on dappled hides as 16 silvered darlings paraded beneath a cathedral roof of trees before massing for a dashing white charge down the track.
The jockeys' motley contrasted strikingly with the cool-hued coats of their monochrome mounts. Not that shades of grey, from the near-black tempered steel of Isabella Romee to the milky paleness of Sir Edwin Landseer, are dull, though. There was Nickel Silver, with platinum flashes among the iron; Hits Only Jude, with his rocking-horse rump and the winner Sarah's Art, her pewter set off by a snow-white mane and tail.
Grey horses comprise a tiny proportion of the thoroughbred population and at one time the colour was endangered, until the emergence of the brilliant grey The Tetrarch as a sire of note nearly a century ago. His influential descendants to have propagated the smoky jacket in the past include Mahmoud, Grey Sovereign, Abernant, Zeddaan, Kalamoun and Caro, a job being carried on today by the likes of Linamix, Highest Honor, Dalakhani and Verglas.
None of yesterday's contestants – the race was a six-furlong 0-85 handicap – could be mentioned in the same breath as the Flat game's amazing greys, but every one of them owes his or her grizzled coat to The Tetrarch. Sarah's Art is a seven-greats grand-daughter of the 1913 juvenile champion.
Image: "I bet on the grey" - Jim Crowley on Sarah's Art emerges victorious (http://www.independent.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00234/27-SPORACGETTY_234023s.jpg) in the Super 6 handicap for Grey Horses at Newmarket