Blakeney (horse)

Blakeney
Sire	Hethersett
Grandsire	Hugh Lupus
Dam	Windmill Girl
Damsire	Hornbeam
Sex	Stallion
Foaled	1966
Country	United Kingdom
Colour	Bay
Breeder	Arthur Budgett
Owner	Arthur Budgett
Trainer	Arthur Budgett
Record	12: 3-3-0
Earnings	£83,655
Major wins
Epsom Derby (1969) Ormonde Stakes (1970)

Blakeney (1966–1992) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He won the Derby at Epsom as a three-year-old in 1969 and was one of the few winners of the race to campaign successfully at four. He later had a successful stud career.

Blakeney was bred by his owner and trainer Arthur Budgett at Kirtlington, Oxfordshire. He was the first of two Derby winners produced by the Oaks runner-up Windmill Girl, the other being Morston who won the race in 1973. His sire, Hethersett, was a top class racehorse who won the St Leger in 1962. Hethersett and Blakeney are representatives of the Byerley Turk sire line, unlike more than 95% of modern thoroughbreds, who descend directly from the Darley Arabian.

Blakeney, who was named after a village in Norfolk, was sent to the Newmarket Sales as a yearling. Shortly before the sale the colt was kicked by another horse and the resulting swelling deterred potential buyers so that he failed to reach his reserve price of 5,000gns. Budgett therefore decided to train the colt himself at his Whatcombe Stables near Wantage. The colt's one eccentricity was that he refused to enter a horse box in the usual way, preferring to go in backwards.

Blakeney did not appear on the racecourse until the autumn of his first season. In September he finished fourth in the Clarence House Stakes at Ascot behind the future Coronation Cup winner Caliban. A month later, Blakeney, ridden by Ernie Johnson, recorded his first victory by winning the twenty-seven runner race at Newmarket.

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