Winter's Tale was an American 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...

 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...

. Regally bred by owner Paul Mellon

Paul Mellon

Paul Mellon KBE was an American philanthropist, thoroughbred racehorse owner/breeder. He is one of only five people ever designated an "Exemplar of Racing" by the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame...

, his sire was U.S. Racing Hall of Fame

National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame

The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers...

 inductee, Arts and Letters

Arts and Letters

Arts and Letters was an American Hall of Fame Champion Thoroughbred racehorse.Owned and bred by American sportsman and noted philanthropist Paul Mellon, and trained by future Hall of Famer Elliott Burch, the colt began racing at age two...

, a son of a Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

an superstar, the undefeated runner and British Champion sire

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:...

, Ribot

Ribot (horse)

Ribot was an Italian bay Thoroughbred racehorse, considered the strongest horse of all time.Undefeated in 16 races, he won over distances ranging from 5 furlongs to 1m 7f , in three different countries and in all types of track conditions...

. His dam, Christmas Wind, was a Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 daughter of E. P. Taylor's

E. P. Taylor

Edward Plunket Taylor was a Canadian business tycoon and famous breeder of thoroughbred race horses. Known to his friends as "Eddie", he is universally recorded as "E. P...

 sire, Nearctic

Nearctic (horse)

Nearctic was an Canadian-bred Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse. Bred by E. P. Taylor, he was out of the Irish mare Lady Angela, a daughter of the British Champion sire Hyperion...

, the sire of the legendary Northern Dancer

Northern Dancer

Northern Dancer was a Canadian-bred Thoroughbred racehorse and the most successful sire of the 20th Century. The National Thoroughbred Racing Association calls him "one of the most influential sires in Thoroughbred history"....

.

Conditioned for racing by Hall of Fame trainer MacKenzie Miller

MacKenzie Miller

Mackenzie Todd Miller was an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer and owner/breeder. During his forty-six year career, he conditioned seventy-two stakes winners, including four Eclipse Award champions....

, Winter's Tale began racing at age three in 1979 and, because he was a gelding

Gelding

A gelding is a castrated horse or other equine such as a donkey or a mule. Castration, and the elimination of hormonally driven behavior associated with a stallion, allows a male horse to be calmer and better-behaved, making the animal quieter, gentler and potentially more suitable as an everyday...

, continued to race through age seven. In 1980, he had an outstanding year, winning many of the top dirt races for older horses in the pre-Breeders' Cup

Breeders' Cup

The Breeders' Cup World Championships is an annual series of Thoroughbred horse races, most but not all Grade I, operated by Breeders' Cup Limited, a company formed in 1982. From its inception in 1984 through 2006, it was a single-day event; starting in 2007, it expanded to two days. The location...

 era. At Belmont Park

Belmont Park

Belmont Park is a major thoroughbred horse-racing facility located in Elmont in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, on Long Island adjoining New York City. It first opened on May 4, 1905...

, he began a four race win streak with a seven length victory in the June 15th Nassau County Handicap. http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/courant/access/988360522.html?dids=988360522:988360522&FMT=CITE&FMTS=CITE:AI&date=Jun+16%2C+1980&author=&pub=The+Hartford+Courant&desc=Winters+Tale+Romps+To+Seven+Length+Nassau+County+Win&pqatl=google Then, in what the New York Times headlined as a "Most Perfect Ride", jockey Jeffrey Fell

Jeffrey Fell

Jeffrey J. Fell is a retired jockey and a Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee who was also a successful rider in the United States.-References:* * *...

 rode Winter's Tale to victory in the July 4, 1980 Suburban Handicap

Suburban Handicap

The Suburban Handicap is an American Grade II Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. Open to horses age three and older, it is run at the classic one-and-one-quarter mile distance on dirt for a $400,000 purse....

 on the same Belmont track. http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70D1EFC385C11728DDDAC0894DF405B8084F1D3 He then won the July 19th Brooklyn Handicap

Brooklyn Handicap

The Brooklyn Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually in early June at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, on Long Island. It currently is a Grade II event open to three-year-olds and up willing to race one and one-half miles on dirt....

 http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F00E17F9345A12728DDDA90A94DF405B8084F1D3 and although he suffered shin problems, in September Winter's Tale earned his eighth win from eleven career starts with a resounding victory in the Marlboro Cup

Marlboro Cup Invitational Handicap

The Marlboro Cup Invitational Handicap was a Thoroughbred horse race first run in September 1973 at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. A Grade 1 race for horses 3 years old and up, it was raced over a distance of 1 1/8 miles on a dirt track....

at Belmont Park. http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=OXcUAAAAIBAJ&sjid=lQIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=4702,345086&dq=jeff+fell+winters+tale

In 1983, at age seven, Winter's Tale won his second Nassau County Handicap and his second Suburban Handicap. Retired from racing to Paul Mellon's farm in Virginia, Winter's Tale died in 2002 at age twenty-six.