Footstepsinthesand
Encyclopedia
Footstepsinthesand is a retired, Thoroughbred
racehorse and active sire who was bred in the United Kingdom
but trained during his racing career in Ireland
. He won both his races as a two-year-old in 2004 and won the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket
on his three-year-old debut in 2005. Footstepsinthesand sustained an injury during the race and never ran again, retiring to stud undefeated after a career of only three races.
high, bred at Cheveley, near Newmarket, Suffolk by Anthony Oppenheimer's Hascombe and Valiant Stud. He was one of the first foals sired by the European Horse of the Year
Giant's Causeway
out of the mare Glatisant.
Giant's Causeway has sired the winners of over 300 races, including the winners of 26 Group One
/Grade I
races. His most successful progeny include Aragorn
, Shamardal
and Eskendereya
. Glatisant, who was bred and raced by Philip Oppenheimer was a successful racehorse who won the Prestige Stakes
at Goodwood
in 1993. Footstepsinthesand is inbred
3x4 to the stallion Blushing Groom
. This means that Blushing Groom appears in both the third and fourth generations of his pedigree, see below
As a yearling Footstepsinthesand was sent to the Tattersalls
October sales where he was bought for 170,000gns
by the bloodstock agent Dermot "Demi" O'Byrne acting on behalf of Michael Tabor
. The colt was sent into training with Aidan O'Brien
at Ballydoyle
.
in which he started favourite at 3/1, just ahead of his stable companion Olympic. Ridden by Colm O'Donoghue
Footstepsinthesand led from the start and pulled away in the last two furlongs to record an "impressive" four and a half length win, despite being eased down in the closing stages.
He was then immediately moved up to Group Three
standard for the Killavullan Stakes at Leopardstown
. Despite the race attracting representatives from the leading Irish stables of John Oxx
, Dermot Weld
and Jim Bolger
, O'Brien's colt was sent off the odds-on favourite. Footstepsinthesand was positioned in second place by Jamie Spencer before being sent to the lead entering the straight. He soon went clear and ran on to win "comfortably" by two lengths from Gaff, with the rest of the field a further seven lengths back. Immediately after the race, bookmakers offered a price of 25/1 for the following year's 2000 Guineas.
in exercise, and later reports from Ballydoyle
claimed that he was "burning up" the gallops in training.
Footstepsinthesand was made 13/2 third favourite behind two other unbeaten colts; Dubawi
representing the Godolphin team and the Michael Stoute
-trained Rob Roy. Ridden by Kieren Fallon
Footstepsinthesand raced keenly down the centre of the Rowley Mile course before taking the lead a furlong and a half from the finish. Although he drifted to the left in the closing stages he was not seriously challenged and won by one and three quarter lengths from Rebel Rebel, with Kandidate third.
Commenting on the race the Independent
called the winner "an outstanding individual, full of quality and vitality", while pointing out that the placed horses were unknown outsiders, making the value of the form questionable. The bookmakers responed by making Footstepsinthesand 6-1 joint-favourite for the Epsom Derby
Footstepsinthesand returned from the race with a foot injury, later described as a "stone bruise". The injury did not respond to treatment and his retirement was announced in June.
Footstepsinthesand was given a rating of 116, fourteen pounds below the topweight Hurricane Run
.
. His early retirement meant that he was able to begin his stud career at Coolmore's Australian base in the Hunter Valley
, New South Wales
in 2005 before being shuttled back to their Irish base at Fethard, County Tipperary
for the Northern Hemisphere breeding season. He was also shuttled to stand at Haras La Mission in Argentina
in 2007.
His stud fee for 2011 was €10,000.
He has produced eight Group
winners from his first two crops including the Group Two winners Shamalgan (Oettingen-Rennen) and Formosina (Railway Stakes
).
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...
racehorse and active sire who was bred in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
but trained during his racing career in Ireland
Republic of Ireland
Ireland , described as the Republic of Ireland , is a sovereign state in Europe occupying approximately five-sixths of the island of the same name. Its capital is Dublin. Ireland, which had a population of 4.58 million in 2011, is a constitutional republic governed as a parliamentary democracy,...
. He won both his races as a two-year-old in 2004 and won the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket
Newmarket Racecourse
The town of Newmarket, in Suffolk, England, is the headquarters of British horseracing, home to the largest cluster of training yards in the country and many key horse racing organisations. Newmarket Racecourse has two courses - the Rowley Mile Course and the July Course. Both are wide, galloping...
on his three-year-old debut in 2005. Footstepsinthesand sustained an injury during the race and never ran again, retiring to stud undefeated after a career of only three races.
Background
Footstepsinthesand is a bay horse standing 16.1 handsHand (unit)
The hand is a non-SI unit of measurement of length, now used only for the measurement of the height of horses in some English-speaking countries, including Australia, Canada, the UK and the USA. With origins in ancient Egypt, it was originally based on the breadth of a human hand...
high, bred at Cheveley, near Newmarket, Suffolk by Anthony Oppenheimer's Hascombe and Valiant Stud. He was one of the first foals sired by the European Horse of the Year
Cartier Racing Award
The Cartier Racing Awards are awards in European horse racing, founded in 1991, and sponsored by Cartier jewelers. The award winners are decided by points earned in group races plus the votes cast by British racing journalists and readers of the Racing Post and Daily Telegraph newspapers.Eight...
Giant's Causeway
Giant's Causeway (horse)
Giant's Causeway is a Kentucky-bred thoroughbred racehorse who competed primarily in Europe. In 2000, he won five straight Group One races. His performance that year earned him European Horse of the Year honors....
out of the mare Glatisant.
Giant's Causeway has sired the winners of over 300 races, including the winners of 26 Group One
Conditions races
Conditions races are horse races where the weights carried by the runners are laid down by the conditions attached to the race. Weights are allocated according to; the sex of the runners, with female runners carrying less weight than males; the age of the runners, with younger horses receiving...
/Grade I
Graded stakes race
A graded stakes race is a term applied since 1973 by the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association to thoroughbred horse races in the United States and Canada to describe races that derive their name from the stake, or entry fee, owners must pay...
races. His most successful progeny include Aragorn
Aragorn (horse)
Aragorn is an Irish millionaire Thoroughbred racehorse who won major Graded stakes races in 2005 and 2006.Retired to stud, Aragorn stands in Lane's End Farm in Kentucky.-References:* *...
, Shamardal
Shamardal
Shamardal is a Thoroughbred racehorse who competed in the United Kingdom and in France and was voted the 2004 European Champion Two-Year-Old.-Background:...
and Eskendereya
Eskendereya
Eskendereya is an American Thoroughbred racehorse. He is sired by Giant's Causeway, a son of North America's one time leading sire Storm Cat. Bred in Kentucky by Sanford Robertson, Eskendereya was a $250,000 Keeneland September purchase. His dam is Aldebaran Light, who is a daughter of champion...
. Glatisant, who was bred and raced by Philip Oppenheimer was a successful racehorse who won the Prestige Stakes
Prestige Stakes
The Prestige Stakes is a Group 3 flat horse race in Great Britain which is open to two-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run at Goodwood over a distance of 7 furlongs , and it is scheduled to take place each year in late August....
at Goodwood
Goodwood Racecourse
Goodwood Racecourse is a horse-racing track five miles north of Chichester, West Sussex, in England controlled by the family of the Duke of Richmond, whose seat is nearby Goodwood House...
in 1993. Footstepsinthesand is inbred
Inbreeding
Inbreeding is the reproduction from the mating of two genetically related parents. Inbreeding results in increased homozygosity, which can increase the chances of offspring being affected by recessive or deleterious traits. This generally leads to a decreased fitness of a population, which is...
3x4 to the stallion Blushing Groom
Blushing Groom
Blushing Groom was a French Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. He was bred by American businessman John McNamee Sullivan and was raced by HH Aga Khan IV. A descendant of Nearco, Blushing Groom was sired by Red God and out of the mare Runaway Bride....
. This means that Blushing Groom appears in both the third and fourth generations of his pedigree, see below
As a yearling Footstepsinthesand was sent to the Tattersalls
Tattersalls
Tattersalls is the main auctioneer of race horses in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. It was founded in 1766 by Richard Tattersall , who had been stud groom to the second Duke of Kingston. The first premises occupied were near Hyde Park Corner, in what was then the outskirts of London...
October sales where he was bought for 170,000gns
Guinea (British coin)
The guinea is a coin that was minted in the Kingdom of England and later in the Kingdom of Great Britain and the United Kingdom between 1663 and 1813...
by the bloodstock agent Dermot "Demi" O'Byrne acting on behalf of Michael Tabor
Michael Tabor
Michael B. Tabor is a businessman and owner of Thoroughbred racehorses.-Thoroughbred racing career:...
. The colt was sent into training with Aidan O'Brien
Aidan O'Brien
Aidan Patrick O'Brien is an Irish horse racing trainer. Since 1996, he has been the private trainer at Ballydoyle Stables near Cashel in County Tipperary for John Magnier and his Coolmore Stud associates....
at Ballydoyle
Ballydoyle
Ballydoyle is a racehorse training facility located in County Tipperary in Ireland. It is a sister thoroughbred facility to Coolmore Stud, and both are owned by John Magnier...
.
2004: two-year-old season
Footsepsinthesand's two-year-old career consisted of two races, run eight days apart in October 2004. He made his debut in a twenty runner maiden race at NaasNaas Racecourse
Naas Racecourse is a horse racing venue in Naas, County Kildare, Ireland, approximately 18 miles from Dublin. The course stages both Flat racing and National Hunt racing and in 2010 fifteen race meetings were held there....
in which he started favourite at 3/1, just ahead of his stable companion Olympic. Ridden by Colm O'Donoghue
Colm O'Donoghue
Colm O'Donoughue is an Irish flat jockey.In 2002, while an apprentice rider for the Aidan O'Brien racing stable he was injured and hospitalized after falling during the Dawn Fresh Cream Handicap....
Footstepsinthesand led from the start and pulled away in the last two furlongs to record an "impressive" four and a half length win, despite being eased down in the closing stages.
He was then immediately moved up to Group Three
Conditions races
Conditions races are horse races where the weights carried by the runners are laid down by the conditions attached to the race. Weights are allocated according to; the sex of the runners, with female runners carrying less weight than males; the age of the runners, with younger horses receiving...
standard for the Killavullan Stakes at Leopardstown
Leopardstown Racecourse
Leopardstown Racecourse is an Irish horse-racing venue. Like the majority of Irish courses, it hosts both National Hunt and Flat racing. Located in Leopardstown, County Dublin, 8km south of the Dublin city centre. The course was built by Captain George Quin and modeled on Sandown Park Racecourse...
. Despite the race attracting representatives from the leading Irish stables of John Oxx
John Oxx
John M. Oxx is a trainer of Thoroughbred racehorses. His stables are located on "The Curragh" of Kildare, the stables are named Currabeg Stables. His father, John Oxx Sr., was also a very successful trainer who won eight Irish classics and it was the younger Oxx's ambition to follow in his...
, Dermot Weld
Dermot Weld
Dermot K. Weld is one of Ireland's most successful racehorse trainers. He holds the record for the most winners trained in Ireland ....
and Jim Bolger
Jim Bolger (racehorse trainer)
James S. "Jim" Bolger is an Thoroughbred racehorse trainer and breeder based in Coolcullen in County Kilkenny. For many years now he has been recognised as one of the racing greats in Ireland...
, O'Brien's colt was sent off the odds-on favourite. Footstepsinthesand was positioned in second place by Jamie Spencer before being sent to the lead entering the straight. He soon went clear and ran on to win "comfortably" by two lengths from Gaff, with the rest of the field a further seven lengths back. Immediately after the race, bookmakers offered a price of 25/1 for the following year's 2000 Guineas.
2005: three-year-old season
In 2005 Footstepsinthesand was sent straight for the 2000 Guineas without a prep race. He did however, attract attention in the build up to the race: he was the selected mount of O'Brien's new stable jockey Kieren FallonKieren Fallon
Kieren Francis Fallon is a professional flat racing jockey and has been British Champion Jockey six times....
in exercise, and later reports from Ballydoyle
Ballydoyle
Ballydoyle is a racehorse training facility located in County Tipperary in Ireland. It is a sister thoroughbred facility to Coolmore Stud, and both are owned by John Magnier...
claimed that he was "burning up" the gallops in training.
Footstepsinthesand was made 13/2 third favourite behind two other unbeaten colts; Dubawi
Dubawi
Dubawi is a thoroughbred racehorse sired by Dubai Millennium. He won five races in his race career....
representing the Godolphin team and the Michael Stoute
Michael Stoute
Sir Michael Ronald Stoute is a Barbadian British thoroughbred horse trainer in flat racing. Stoute, whose father was the Chief of police for Barbados, left the island in 1964 at the age of 19 to become an assistant to trainer Pat Rohan and began training horses on his own in 1972...
-trained Rob Roy. Ridden by Kieren Fallon
Kieren Fallon
Kieren Francis Fallon is a professional flat racing jockey and has been British Champion Jockey six times....
Footstepsinthesand raced keenly down the centre of the Rowley Mile course before taking the lead a furlong and a half from the finish. Although he drifted to the left in the closing stages he was not seriously challenged and won by one and three quarter lengths from Rebel Rebel, with Kandidate third.
Commenting on the race the Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
called the winner "an outstanding individual, full of quality and vitality", while pointing out that the placed horses were unknown outsiders, making the value of the form questionable. The bookmakers responed by making Footstepsinthesand 6-1 joint-favourite for the Epsom Derby
Epsom Derby
The Derby Stakes, popularly known as The Derby, internationally as the Epsom Derby, and under its present sponsor as the Investec Derby, is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies...
Footstepsinthesand returned from the race with a foot injury, later described as a "stone bruise". The injury did not respond to treatment and his retirement was announced in June.
Assessment
In the 2005 World Thoroughbred Racehorse RankingsWorld Thoroughbred Racehorse Rankings
The World Thoroughbred Racehorse Rankings are compiled by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities , an organization established in 2003 with headquarters in Paris, France made up of members from around the world....
Footstepsinthesand was given a rating of 116, fourteen pounds below the topweight Hurricane Run
Hurricane Run
Hurricane Run is a world champion thoroughbred racehorse.-Background:Hurricane Run was trained by André Fabre, and ridden in most of his races by jockey Kieren Fallon for owner Michael Tabor....
.
Stud career
Footstepsinthesand retired to stand for his owners' Coolmore StudCoolmore Stud
Coolmore Stud, in Fethard, South Tipperary in Ireland, is the world's largest breeding operation of thoroughbred racehorses. It was established in 1975....
. His early retirement meant that he was able to begin his stud career at Coolmore's Australian base in the Hunter Valley
Hunter Valley
The Hunter Region, more commonly known as the Hunter Valley, is a region of New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney with an approximate population of 645,395 people. Most of the population of the Hunter Region lives within of the coast, with 55% of the entire...
, New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
in 2005 before being shuttled back to their Irish base at Fethard, County Tipperary
County Tipperary
County Tipperary is a county of Ireland. It is located in the province of Munster and is named after the town of Tipperary. The area of the county does not have a single local authority; local government is split between two authorities. In North Tipperary, part of the Mid-West Region, local...
for the Northern Hemisphere breeding season. He was also shuttled to stand at Haras La Mission in Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
in 2007.
His stud fee for 2011 was €10,000.
He has produced eight Group
Conditions races
Conditions races are horse races where the weights carried by the runners are laid down by the conditions attached to the race. Weights are allocated according to; the sex of the runners, with female runners carrying less weight than males; the age of the runners, with younger horses receiving...
winners from his first two crops including the Group Two winners Shamalgan (Oettingen-Rennen) and Formosina (Railway Stakes
Railway Stakes (Ireland)
The Railway Stakes is a Group 2 flat horse race in Ireland open to two-year-old thoroughbreds. It is run at the Curragh over a distance of 6 furlongs , and it is scheduled to take place each year in late June or early July....
).
Tabulated pedigree
- Footsepsinthesand is inbredInbreedingInbreeding is the reproduction from the mating of two genetically related parents. Inbreeding results in increased homozygosity, which can increase the chances of offspring being affected by recessive or deleterious traits. This generally leads to a decreased fitness of a population, which is...
3x4 to the stallion Blushing GroomBlushing GroomBlushing Groom was a French Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. He was bred by American businessman John McNamee Sullivan and was raced by HH Aga Khan IV. A descendant of Nearco, Blushing Groom was sired by Red God and out of the mare Runaway Bride....
.