Phantom

Phantom (1808 – 1834) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career that lasted from April 1811 to April 1813 he ran ten times and won seven races. In the summer of 1811 he proved himself one of the best British colts of his generation, winning the Derby on his second racecourse appearance. He continued to race with considerable success for two more years, mainly in match races. He was retired to stud in 1814 and became a successful sire of winners before being exported to Mecklenburg in 1832. Background Phantom was a bay horse bred at Maresfield in Sussex by his owner Sir John Shelley, a distant relative of the poet Percy Bysshe Shelley. He was from the first crop of foals sired by Walton, a stallion bought by Shelley in 1804 and based at Boroughbridge in Yorkshire at the time of Phantom's conception. Walton won several King's Plates in his racing career and was successful as a sire of winners. Apart from Phantom, he sired the classic winners St Patrick (St. Leger Stakes) and Nectar (2000 Guineas). Phantom's dam Julia was a sister of the 1801 Derby winner Eleanor. Racing career 1811: three-year-old season Phantom did not run as a two-year-old and made his first appearance in a Produce Sweepstakes on 15 April at Newmarket. He started favourite at odds of 1/3 but was beaten, finishing second to the filly Barrosa. Two weeks later, Barrosa finished second to the colt Trophonius in the 2000 Guineas.