Pussy (horse)

Pussy
Pussy in an 1834 painting by John E. Ferneley
Sire	Pollio
Grandsire	Orville
Dam	Valve
Damsire	Bob Booty
Sex	Mare
Foaled	1831
Country	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Colour	Brown
Breeder	Mr. Lechmere Charlton
Owner	Thomas Cosby
Trainer	W. E. Day
Record	25: 8-7-6
Major wins
Epsom Oaks (1834) Ascot Derby (1834)

Pussy (1831 – after 1848) was a Thoroughbred racehorse that won the 1834 Epsom Oaks. In a racing career that lasted from 1833 until 1837, Pussy started 25 times winning eight races. She initially raced under Thomas Cosby's name and was sold in 1835 to Lord Bentinck but raced under the Duke of Richmond's name. Pussy was retired to Bentinck's stud in 1837 but did not produce any noteworthy offspring. She was sold at auction in 1846, and her last foal was born in 1848.

Pussy was bred by Mr. Lechmere Charlton and was foaled in 1831 near Ludford Park in Salop. Pussy's sire, Pollio, stood for 10 sovereigns at the Ludford Stud Farm near Ludlow and was described by the Racing Calendar as a "beautiful dark brown, without white, nearly 16 hands high, with very great bone and power." Pussy's dam, Valve, was bred by the Marquess of Sligo and was foaled in Ireland in 1820. Valve's dam, Wire, was a full-sister to the Derby winners Whisker and Whalebone and was a successful racehorse in England and Ireland. Pussy was Valve's fourth foal and the first of two foals sired by Pollio, with Pussy's full-sister Griselda foaled in 1832. Griselda was sold to H. Bland and exported to Belgium in 1835. A half-brother to Pussy, The Steamer (sired by Emilius) was a noted sire of hunters after his racing career "was foiled by his bad legs."

Pussy was a "very dark brown mare, almost black" with "remarkably fine" action. Pussy was sold by Mr. Shackel for £80 "in [a] low and ragged condition" to Thomas Cosby. Pussy was trained at Danebury by William Day, the brother of Pussy's regular jockey John Barham Day. Pussy did not train well as a yearling or two-year-old and was noted as having gone "amiss all the summer of 1833."

In June at Ascot, Pussy received a forfeiture from Mr. Ricardo's filly Ellen, and a few days later, was third to the filly Louisa and the colt Comet in a 210-sovereign sweepstakes race. At Goodwood in July, Pussy was beaten in a match race by Mr. Kent's filly Baleine. Thomas Henry Taunton, the author of Portraits of celebrated racehorses of the past and present, noted that Pussy was "sadly out of condition at this time." Pussy won a 100-guinea sweepstakes race against General Grosvenor's horse "Dick" and was second to a filly sired by Merlin in the Nursery Handicap run in October at the Houghton Meeting.