Le Moss

Le Moss
Le Moss as a yearling at Goffs Sales, September 1976
Sire	Le Levanstell
Grandsire	Le Lavandou
Dam	Feemoss
Damsire	Ballymoss
Sex	Stallion
Foaled	2 April 1975
Country	Ireland
Colour	Chestnut
Breeder	McGrath Trust Company
Owner	Carlo d'Alessio
Trainer	Henry Cecil
Record	15:11-2-0
Major wins
Queen's Vase (1978) March Stakes (1978) Ascot Gold Cup (1979, 1980) Goodwood Cup (1979, 1980) Doncaster Cup (1979, 1980)
Awards
Timeform top-rated older horse (1980) Timeform rating 135

Le Moss (3 April 1975 – 17 August 2000) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. A specialist stayer, he excelled at distances of two miles and beyond, winning eleven times from fifteen races between 1977 and 1980. He showed good form as a three-year-old, winning the Queen's Vase and finishing second in the classic St Leger Stakes, but reached his peak as an older horse. In 1979 he completed the "Stayers' Triple Crown" by winning the Ascot Gold Cup, Goodwood Cup and Doncaster Cup. He won the same three races as a five-year-old, defeating the future champion Ardross on each occasion. He was then retired to stud here he had some success as a sire of steeplechasers.

Le Moss was a chestnut horse with a narrow white blaze and three white socks bred in Ireland by the Irish-based McGrath Trust Company, a breeding organisation run by Joseph McGrath. His sire was the McGrath-owned Le Levanstell, who won the Sussex Stakes and the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes in 1961 before a successful stud career. Le Moss's dam, Feemoss came from a strong staying family, being a daughter of the Yorkshire Oaks winner Feevagh and a half-sister of the Queen Alexandra Stakes winner Laurence O. Feemoss had previously produced the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Levmoss and the Prix de Diane winner Sweet Mimosa.

As a yearling, Le Moss was sent to the sales and was bought for 26,000 guineas by representatives of the Italian lawyer Carlo d'Alessio. During his racing career, Le Moss carried d'Alessio's red, white and green racing silks was trained by Henry Cecil at his Warren Place Stables at Newmarket, Suffolk. He proved a difficult horse to train, being highly temperamental and lazy in his exercise. Joe Mercer, who rode the horse to some of his biggest wins described him as "a cantankerous bugger".