Enthusiast

Enthusiast (1886 – 23 October 1909) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire best known for his upset victory over Donovan in the 2000 Guineas. As a two-year-old he failed to win a race but showed considerable promise when finishing second in the Dewhurst Plate. He was still a maiden when he won the Guineas which proved to be his only victory over Donovan in eight meetings. He went on to win the Sussex Stakes as well as finishing third in the Prince of Wales's Stakes and fourth in the St Leger. After his retirement from racing he had some success as a breeding stallion. Background Enthusiast was a "very handsome" chestnut horse bred at the Yardley stud near Birmingham by the Graham brothers. As a yearling he was offered for sale and bought for 2,000 guineas by Douglas Baird. He was trained at Newmarket, Suffolk by James Ryan. His sire, Sterling, was a successful racehorse who became an excellent sire whose other offspring included Isonomy, Paradox, Enterprise and Harvester. Enthusiast's dam Cherry Duchess produced several other good winners including the July Cup winner Energy and was the female-line ancestor of Alsab. Racing career