No Grey Areas In Corbett Program

For someone who has never raced a large nor expensive string of horses, Catherine Corbett ranks as one of Britain's most successful racehorse owners of the modern era. A long-standing patron of Lambourn trainer Barry Hills, she has raced a succession of grey horses, many of whom have punched well above their weight and several of whom have proved hugely influential at stud.

Arguably the most notable of Mrs Corbett's popular grey colorbearers is Dark Angel (Ire) (Acclamation {GB}), a 61,000gns yearling whom she raced with Chrysalis records' principal Chris Wright of Stratford Place Stud. Dark Angel was not actually the most distinguished of her many good racehorses, but he was still a Group 1 winner: his nine races as a 2-year-old in 2007 yielded four victories, the highlight of which was his success in the G1 Middle Park S. That proved to be his only season of racing because the spring of 2008 saw him covering at Yeomanstown Stud in Ireland. He has proved hugely successful in his new role, his offspring including the Group 1 winners Lethal Force (Ire) and Mecca's Angel (Ire).

The path of his stud fee tells the tale perfectly. His first-season fee was €10,000, but this proved unsustainable in the short term, and 2011, his fourth season, saw him priced at €7,000.

His runners, though, have reversed that trend so spectacularly that 2016 sees him covering for €60,000.

The good grey colts raced by Mrs Corbett also include the Classic contenders The Fly (GB) (Pharly {Fr}) and The Glow-Worm (Ire) (Doyoun {GB}). The former finished fifth in the Derby and third in the St Leger in 1997, while the latter finished sixth in the Derby the following year.

The first top-class grey to carry Mrs Corbett's colors was Desirable (Ire) (Lord Gayle), who was bought as a yearling in 1982 for 10,000 Irish guineas before going on to take the following year's G1 Cheveley Park S. at Newmarket, thus becoming the first of two consecutive winners of the race for her dam Balidaress (Ire) (Balidar {Ire}). Her half-sister Park Appeal (Ire) (Ahonoora {GB}) landed the race the following year.

Park Appeal went on to become a wonderful broodmare, breeding four stakes winners including Cape Cross (GB) (Green Desert) as well as the dams of the successful stallions Diktat (GB) (Warning) and Iffraaj (GB) (Zafonic). Desirable also did more than her bit to further the success of this branch of the Pretty Polly family: after Mrs Corbett had sold her at Tattersalls for a million guineas, she produced Sheikh Hamdan's 1991 G1 1000 Guineas winner Shadayid (Shadeed).

Mrs Corbett's next high-class grey filly was Negligent (Ire) (Ahonoora {GB}), winner of the G3 Rockfel S. at Newmarket as a 2-year-old in 1989. Having been sold privately to Sheikh Mohammed, she too became the ancestress of a G1 1000 Guineas winner. Her winners included Shawanni (GB) (Shareef Dancer), who won a maiden race at Yarmouth for Godolphin as a 2-year-old in 1995 before running well enough in the following year's G1 Poule d'Essai des Pouliches to pass the post in sixth place, just over three lengths behind the winner Ta Rib (Mr Prospector). Shawanni has gone on to prove a wonderful broodmare, producing the winners of well over 50 races including Sky Lantern (Ire) (Red Clubs {Ire}), whose four Group 1 victories included the 2013 1000 Guineas, as well as the Group 3-winning juvenile Arctic (Ire) (Shamardal).

Four years after Negligent's Rockfel S. victory, Mrs Corbett enjoyed Classic glory courtesy of Nicer (Ire) (Pennine Walk {Ire}), a 27,000 Irish guinea-yearling who carried her colours to victory in the 1993 Irish 1000 Guineas. She too was sold at the end of her racing days, being bought by Anthony Penfold on behalf of Sheikh Fahd Salman for 270,000 guineas at Tattersalls' December Sale in 1993. In the short term, Nicer's breeding career proved far less notable than those enjoyed by Desirable and Negligent, but two of her daughters, Chablis (GB) (Kingmambo) and Woman In White (Fr) (Daylami {Ire})–neither of whom ever won a race–were sold to antipodean studs.

Between them they have ensured that Nicer too has made her mark as a matron.

Woman In White's most notable achievement in Australia has proved to be the production of the listed winner Specter (Aus) (Nadeem {Aus}), who showed enough ability to finish fourth to Helmet (Aus) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}) in the G1 Caulfield Guineas in 2011. Woman In White's half-sister Chablis, though, now ranks as dam of a horse whose Caulfield form is even better than that.

The winners bred by Chablis in New Zealand have included the 2006 G2 Avondale Guineas runner-up Pinot Grigio (NZ) (O'Reilly {NZ}). However, her most notable offspring has turned out to be Queen Cha Cha (NZ) (High Chaparral {Ire}), who now stands proud as the dam of Saturday's G1 C. F. Orr Stakes heroine Suavito (NZ) (Thorn Park {Aus}).

The C. F. Orr Stakes, formerly run at Williamstown and Sandown but now at Caulfield, always plays a key role in bringing the Autumn Carnival in Melbourne to life. Its winners include many of the weight-for-age champions of Australian racing history, and this year's edition duly attracted a double-figure total of previous Group 1 winners. Suavito was one of them, having taken the G1 Futurity S. at the same track last February, but she was tackling the C. F. Orr first up after a long recuperation from injury.

Under the circumstances, her victory was outstanding–and it has produced another nice addendum to the remarkable story of the great greys raced by Catherine Corbett.