Greatest Racehorses: Tudor Minstrel 3e6v50

Pedigree Details

Sire: Owen Tudor

Dam: Sansonnet

Dam's Sire: Sansovino

Breeder: John Arthur Dewar

Foaled:1944

Race Record & Factfile

Races:10

Wins: 8

Owner:John Arthur Dewar

Trainer: Fred Darling

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“So far as I know I have never yet described any horse as a world-beater, but, with this reservation about distance, I think I am prepared so to describe Tudor Minstrel...The memory of Tudor Minstrel’s strolling home the length of a street in front of everything else will remain with me for the rest of my life.”

That was how Timeform’s founder Phil Bull described the 1947 2000 Guineas winner Tudor Minstrel in the postscript to his essay in Best Horses of 1947, the publication which evolved into the Racehorses annuals. The Best Horses series only assessed horses by the value of their time performances, but the Best Horses of 1947 Timeform Supplement, which was published the following year, included the very first Timeform ratings. This was how Tudor Minstrel was summed up:

“Won Guineas running away: became much too headstrong and would not give himself a chance of staying: was all in at finish when winning Knight’s Royal Stakes: fine miler, but really the most brilliantly speedy six or seven furlong horse of this century: unbeatable over these distances: stud.”

Tudor Minstrel’s Timeform rating of 144 was not sured until the French colt Sea-Bird, winner of the Derby and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, was assessed at 145 in 1965. As far as British-trained horses are concerned, Tudor Minstrel remained the best in Timeform’s experience until another outstanding winner of the 2000 Guineas, Brigadier Gerard, improved his rating to match Tudor Minstrel on 144 as a four-year-old in 1972. Besides Sea-Bird, the only other horse to have been given a higher Timeform rating than Tudor Minstrel is, of course, Frankel, whose own spectacular win by six lengths in the 2000 Guineas prompted comparisons with Tudor Minstrel’s victory.

Whilst Frankel remained unbeaten for the rest of his career, Tudor Minstrel was beaten both times he was tried beyond a mile, hence Bull’s proviso about describing him as a world-beater. But whereas Frankel did stay further than a mile, unlike Tudor Minstrel, his stamina was never tested in the Derby.

Tudor Minstrel’s sire Owen Tudor won war-time versions of the Derby and Gold Cup run at Newmarket while his dam Sansonnet, although a speedy two-year-old herself, was by another Derby winner Sansovino.

Two-year-old season (1946)

Tudor Minstrel gave an early indication of his natural speed by winning all four of his races in his first season – “four truly sparkling displays such as could be given only by an exceptionally brilliant two-year-old” as Bull described them. His most important wins came in the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot and the National Breeders’ Produce Stakes at Sandown, both of which he won by four lengths. Tudor Minstrel came to hand early and had already won at Bath and Salisbury before going to Royal Ascot, and, even though he didn’t race after July, he topped the Free Handicap at the end of the year.

Major races won

• Coventry Stakes, Royal Ascot
• National Breeders’ Produce Stakes, Sandown

Three-year-old season (1947)

After reappearing with an easy win over seven furlongs at Bath, Tudor Minstrel lined up as the 11/8 favourite for the 2000 Guineas. “We have all seen races which were a foregone conclusion some way from home,” wrote Quintin Gilbey in Tudor Minstrel’s essay in Best Horses, “but it was inconceivable that the Two Thousand Guineas should have been over and done with before the horses had travelled half a mile.” Bull, who added that Tudor Minstrel was still cantering ing the post with Gordon Richards stroking his neck and tweaking his ears, was of the opinion that even his official winning margin of eight lengths didn’t do him justice, saying that ten or 11 would have been nearer the mark. Tudor Minstrel recorded an exceptional timefigure in the 2000 Guineas of 1.74 fast, a time performance Bull doubted would be bettered for a long time. In fact, it took until Troy’s win in the 1979 Derby, which is the only time Tudor Minstrel’s timefigure has been sured.

Few doubted that the odds-on Tudor Minstrel would be beaten at Epsom as he had looked so superior to his rivals in the Guineas that his stamina didn’t look like being much of a factor. But Tudor Minstrel gave himself no chance whatsoever of seeing out the race. Bull described photographs of Tudor Minstrel taken in the early stages of the Derby that showed “the horse with his mouth wide open, his head and neck turned at right angles to the course, fighting his jockey for all he is worth.” With nothing left at the finish, Tudor Minstrel ed the post fourth behind Pearl Diver.

Back at a mile, Tudor Minstrel recorded another easy win in the St James’s Palace Stakes, but another attempt over further in the Eclipse Stakes ended in a second defeat, this time behind the Derby runner-up Migoli who had won the Dewhurst the previous season and went on to win the 1948 Arc.

Bull’s view, summed up above and backed up by the colt’s performance in the Derby, was that Tudor Minstrel, rather than settling down, became even more headstrong in his races after the Guineas which had taught him “to tear up the course from the word go.” Tudor Minstrel ended his racing career with another win back at a mile in the Knight’s Royal Stakes at Ascot, but in Bull’s opinion even that distance was further than ideal, his performance in that race “demonstrating that his optimum distance was then no more than seven furlongs.” The Knight’s Royal, which was later to become the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes, was run for the first time in 1947 with the aim of bringing together Tudor Minstrel and the top-class sprinter The Bug who had won his last ten races. With The Bug running poorly, Tudor Minstrel went on to beat the French horse Vagabond by a rapidly diminishing length and a half, not because he was eased, as it might have appeared, but because, according to Bull, he had no more to give.  

Major races won                           

• 2000 Guineas, Newmarket
• St James’s Palace Stakes, Royal Ascot
• Knight’s Royal Stakes, Ascot

Tudor Minstrel at stud

Tudor Minstrel was principally an influence for speed at stud, with the most notable recent stallions to have kept his male line going being Cadeaux Genereux and his son Bahamian Bounty. Tudor Minstrel’s sons Tudor Melody and Sing Sing were both champion two-year-olds themselves, the latter becoming the grandsire of champion sprinter Lochsong. Tudor Minstrel also had some notable winners following his export to America, with his son Tomy Lee winning the 1959 Kentucky Derby and his daughter What A Treat being named champion three-year-old filly of 1965. What A Treat became the dam of champion sire Be My Guest, an important stallion in the development of Coolmore in the 1970’s.

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