Kostroma was an Thoroughbred

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...

 filly

Filly

A filly is a young female horse too young to be called a mare. There are several specific definitions in use.*In most cases filly is a female horse under the age of four years old....

 racehorse

Horse racing

Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...

 who competed successfully in Ireland as well as in the United States where she set a world record

World record

A world record is usually the best global performance ever recorded and verified in a specific skill or sport. The book Guinness World Records collates and publishes notable records of all types, from first and best to worst human achievements, to extremes in the natural world and beyond...

 for a mile and an eighth on turf

Grass

Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...

 at Santa Anita Park

Santa Anita Park

Santa Anita Park is a thoroughbred racetrack in Arcadia, California, United States. It offers some of the prominent racing events in the United States during the winter and in spring. With its backdrop of the purple San Gabriel Mountains, it is considered by many as the world's most beautiful race...

 in Arcadia, California

Arcadia, California

Arcadia is an affluent city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, and located approximately northeast of downtown Los Angeles in the San Gabriel Valley and at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains....

.

Breeding

Kostroma was bred in Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

 by Valerio Ltd. in partnership with trainer

Horse trainer

In horse racing, a trainer prepares a horse for races, with responsibility for exercising it, getting it race-ready and determining which races it should enter...

 Tommy Stack

Tommy Stack

Tommy Stack is a former National Hunt racing jockey and current National Hunt trainer. As a jockey, he is probably best-known for piloting Red Rum to a third Grand National victory. Stack was National Hunt Champion Jockey for the 1974-75 and 1976-77 seasons. He got his first trainer's license in...

. Out of the mare Katie May, whose sire was the 1967 English Horse of the Year, Busted, she was sired by Caerleon

Caerleon II

Caerleon was an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse who was a Champion runner in France and a two-time Champion sire in Great Britain & Ireland. Bred by Seth Hancock at his famous Claiborne Farm in Kentucky, he was out of the mare Foreseer, a daughter of U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee, Round Table...

, a two-time leading sire in Great Britain & Ireland

Leading sire in Great Britain & Ireland

The list below shows the leading sire of racehorses in Great Britain and Ireland for each year since 1751. This is determined by the amount of prize money won by the sire's progeny during the season.----- References :* -See also:...

 and son of English Triple Crown champion, Nijinsky

Nijinsky II

The racehorse Nijinsky was one of the greatest horses in Thoroughbred horse-racing history. He won the U.K. Triple Crown of racing. Retired to stud he became the Leading sire in Great Britain & Ireland and the Leading broodmare sire in North America.He was bred at E. P...

.

Racing in Ireland

At age three, Kostroma made a winning debut on May 20, 1989 for owner Robert Sangster

Robert Sangster

Robert Edmund Sangster was a British businessman, thoroughbred racehorse owner and breeder. He was British flat racing Champion Owner five times and his horses won many major races, including two Epsom Derbys, four Irish Derbys, two French Derbys, three Prix de l'Arc de Triomphes and a Melbourne...

 and trainer Tommy Slack with a win in the Glengarrif Fillies Maiden at Ireland's Curragh Racecourse

Curragh Racecourse

The Curragh Racecourse, usually abbreviated to The Curragh, is Ireland's most important Thoroughbred race track. It is situated on the Curragh plain near Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland.- History :...

. She raced four more times that year without another win but at age four won her 1990 debut, taking the Mooresbridge Stakes

Mooresbridge Stakes

The Mooresbridge Stakes is a Group 3 flat horse race in Ireland open to thoroughbreds aged four years or older. It is run at the Curragh over a distance of 1 mile and 2 furlongs , and it is scheduled to take place each year in early May....

 at the Curragh. She went on to win the Ballycullen Stakes, Brownstown Stakes

Brownstown Stakes

The Brownstown Stakes is a Group 3 flat horse race in Ireland open to thoroughbred fillies and mares aged three years or older. It is run at Fairyhouse over a distance of 7 furlongs , and it is scheduled to take place each year in late June or early July.The event was formerly held at Leopardstown,...

 and the Desmond Stakes

Desmond Stakes

The Desmond Stakes is a Group 3 flat horse race in Ireland open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Leopardstown over a distance of 1 mile , and it is scheduled to take place each year in August....

 before being sent to California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

  to compete in the November 4, 1990 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...

 Yellow Ribbon Invitational Stakes at Santa Anita Park. Kostroma finished a distant eighth to longshot winner Plenty of Grace.

Racing in the United States

Owner Robert Sangster sold a share of Kostroma to Americans William de Burgh and Prestonwood Farm and her race conditioning was then taken over by California-based trainer, Gary Jones

Gary F. Jones

Gary F. Jones is a retired trainer of Thoroughbred racehorses whose career began in 1974 and ended with his retirement at the end of July, 1996 having earned $52,672,611 in purses and the winner of 1,465 races including 102 graded stakes.Among the outstanding horses trained by Gary Jones were Hall...

. However, a stomach disorder kept Kostroma out of racing until early September of 1991 but her return was a spectacular one with a win in stakes record time in the Osunitas Handicap at Del Mar Racetrack

Del Mar Racetrack

Del Mar Racetrack is an American Thoroughbred horse racing track at the Del Mar Fairgrounds in the seaside city of Del Mar, California, 20 miles north of San Diego. Operated by the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, it is known for the slogan: "Where The Turf Meets The Surf." It was built by a partnership...

. Six weeks later, Kostroma won the October 20 Las Palmas Handicap

Las Palmas Handicap

The Las Palmas Handicap is a race for thoroughbred horses run at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California during the Oak Tree Racing Association meet each year in the fall. The race is open to fillies and mares, age three and up, willing to race one and one-eighth miles on the turf...

 at Santa Anita, setting a world record time of 1:43.92 for 1 1/8 miles on turf. Kostroma next won the Grade I Yellow Ribbon Invitational Stakes on November 10 at Santa Anita Park.

Racing at age six in 1992, Kostroma added two more Grade I wins, capturing the Beverly D. Stakes

Beverly D. Stakes

The Beverly D. Stakes is a Grade 1 flat horse race in the United States for thoroughbred fillies and mares aged three-years-old and upward.The Beverly D. Stakes is the fillies' counterpart of the Arlington Million and is raced on the same day and on the same turf course at Arlington Park, Arlington...

 at Arlington Park

Arlington Park

Arlington Park is a horse race track in the Chicago suburb of Arlington Heights, Illinois. Horse racing in the Chicago region has been a popular sport since the early days of the city in the 1830s, and at one time Chicago had more horse racing tracks than any other major metropolitan area...

 in Chicago

Chicago

Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...

 and the Santa Barbara Handicap

Santa Barbara Handicap

The Santa Barbara Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually in mid April at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California. A Grade II event open to fillies and mares, age four and older, it is contested of turf over a distance of one and a quarter miles.Inaugurated in 1935, through...

 at Santa Anita Park. In addition, she won the Grade II Dahlia Handicap

Dahlia Handicap

The Dahlia Handicap is a race for thoroughbred horses run annually at Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood, California. The Dahlia is open to filles and mares, age three and up, willing to race one and one-sixteenth miles on the turf...

  and Grade III Wilshire Handicap

Wilshire Handicap

The Wilshire Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually in early May at Hollywood Park Racetrack in Inglewood, California. A Grade III event open to fillies and mares age three and older,...

, both at Hollywood Park.

Broodmare

Bred to top sires including Storm Cat

Storm Cat

Storm Cat was an American Thoroughbred stallion whose breeding fee during the peak of his stud career was $500,000, the highest in the world. As such, he was one of the few horses with a 24-hour armed guard....

, Danzig

Danzig (horse)

Danzig was an American Thoroughbred racehorse who is best known as a leading sire. He was purchased for $310,000 by Henryk de Kwiatkowski at the 1978 Saratoga Yearling Sale...

, and AP Indy, Kostroma's best offspring on the track was the 2005 filly by Doneraile Court named Ariege

Ariège

Ariège is a department in southwestern France named after the Ariège River.- History :Ariège is one of the original 83 departments created during the French Revolution on 4 March 1790. It was created from the counties of Foix and Couserans....

 who earned more than half a million dollars racing and whose wins included the Grade I Kentucky Oaks

Kentucky Oaks

The Kentucky Oaks is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred fillies staged annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. The race currently covers 1⅛ miles at Churchill Downs; the horses carry 121 pounds . The Kentucky Oaks is held on the Friday before the Kentucky Derby each year...

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