Pyrrhus the First

Pyrrhus The First
Pyrrhus The First. Painting by John Frederick Herring, Sr.
Sire	Epirus
Grandsire	Langar
Dam	Fortress
Damsire	Defence
Sex	Stallion
Foaled	1843
Country	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Colour	Chestnut
Breeder	Colonel Bouverie
Owner	John Gully Mr Harrison
Trainer	John Day
Record	12:10-2-0
Major wins
Newmarket Stakes (1846) Epsom Derby (1846)

Pyrrhus The First (1843 – after 1860) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career that lasted from April 1846 to 1849 he competed twelve times and won ten races, including one walk-over. In the summer of 1846 he proved himself one of the best British colts of his generation, winning the Epsom Derby. After a disappointing year in 1847 he returned to form as a five-year-old and was undefeated in his last seven races. He was retired after winning his only race as a six-year-old and went on to stand as a stallion in England and France.

Pyrrhus The First was a "golden" chestnut horse with a white blaze and white socks on his hind legs, who stood 15.3 hands high. He was bred at Delapre Abbey in Northamptonshire by Colonel Bouverie. Pyrrhus The First was from one of the first crop of foals sired by Epirus, a winner of twelve races, out of Fortress, an unraced mare.

According to one account, Pyrrhus The First was sent to the Doncaster sales where was bought for 300 guineas by the trainer John Day, in a deal which also included his dam, Fortress. Day immediately sold a half share in the colt to his patron John Gully a former prize fighter who later became a Member of Parliament: Day sold the other half share to Gully in 1845. William Day, the trainer's son, writing some years later, gave a different account. According to William, his father bought the foal and mare direct from Bouverie for 250 guineas, and Gully was never more than the part-owner of the horse. John Day trained the colt at his stable at Danebury in Hampshire.

Early in 1846, Pyrrhus The First was offered for sale to a Mr Clifton for £500, but Clifton instead purchased his stable companion, Old England. The colt was unraced as a two-year-old and had leg problems that made him difficult to train, leading one report in the Illustrated London News to claim that he took "more walking exercise than any Derby winner on record". He was not seriously tested until April when he impressed Day in a trial gallop. He was then sent to the Newmarket Spring Meeting, where he won the Newmarket Stakes, beating Iago by half a length. Pyrrhus The First then produced another impressive training gallop to establish himself as a leading contender for the Derby.