Gregorian

Gregorian (25 April 1976 – 2002) was an American-bred, Irish-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He was a very impressive winner of his only race as a two-year-old but ran third on his only appearance at three. He emerged as a top-class middle-distance performer in 1980, winning the Westbury Stakes and the Brigadier Gerard Stakes in England before recording his biggest win in the Joe McGrath Memorial Stakes, which was then the only Group 1 in Ireland open to older horses. He also finished third in both the Eclipse Stakes and the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. After his retirement from racing he stood as a breeding stallion in the United States. Background Gregorian was an "attractive, tall, lengthy" brown horse with a white star and snip bred in Florida by H T Mangurian Jr. As a yearling he was put up for auction and sold for $280,000. He was sent to race in Europe and entered training with Vincent O'Brien at Ballydoyle. During his racing career he competed in the black and red colours of the Californian businessmen Danny Schwartz. His sire Graustark had a brief but promising racing career before becoming a very successful breeding stallion whose progeny included Prove Out, Key To The Mint, Avatar and Jim French. Gregorian's dam Natashka was a top-class performer on the track, winning the Alabama Stakes in 1966. She was even better as a broodmare, with her female-line descendants including Margarula, Elusive Quality, Dark Lomond and Questing. Racing career