Balanchine (horse)

Balanchine
Sire	Storm Bird
Grandsire	Northern Dancer
Dam	Morning Devotion
Damsire	Affirmed
Sex	Filly
Foaled	1991
Country	United States
Colour	Chestnut
Breeder	Swettenham Stud
Owner	Robert Sangster Godolphin Sheikh Maktoum Al Maktoum
Trainer	Peter Chapple-Hyam Hilal Ibrahim Saeed bin Suroor
Record	8: 4-2-0
Earnings	₤541,904
Major wins
Oaks Stakes (1994) Irish Derby (1994).
Awards
European Champion Three-Year Old Filly (1994) Timeform rating 131
Last updated on March 3, 2008

Balanchine is a retired Thoroughbred racehorse, bred in the United States and trained in the United Kingdom and Dubai. In a racing career which lasted from September 1993 until October 1995 she ran eight times and won four races. After winning both her races a two-year-old Balanchine was narrowly beaten in the 1994 1000 Guineas before winning the Classic Epsom Oaks. She then recorded her most important success when defeating male opposition in the 1994 Irish Derby. After recovering from a life-threatening illness, she returned in 1995 but failed to win. Balanchine was one of the first important successes for Godolphin Racing.

Balanchine is a "big, handsome" chestnut mare, with a prominent white blaze and a long white sock on her near-hind leg. She was bred in the USA by the Swettenham Stud, the breeding operation of her original owner, Robert Sangster. She was sired by the European Champion Two-Year-Old Storm Bird, out of the Affirmed mare Morning Devotion, making her a half-sister to the Sun Chariot Stakes winner Red Slippers. She was originally sent into training with Peter Chapple-Hyam at Manton.

Balanchine ran twice as a juvenile in September 1993. Her reputation obviously preceded her, as she was made 1/2 favourite for a fifteen runner maiden race at Salisbury which she "easily" won by three lengths. Two weeks later at Newbury she led all the way to win a minor stakes event by seven lengths at odds of 2/11 in "impressive" style.

Although she had not contested a Group race, she had established herself as a promising filly and attracted the attention of Maktoum Al Maktoum, who bought her privately and sent her to join his family's then experimental Godolphin team.

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