Tiresias (horse)

Tiresias
Tiresias with jockey and trainer. Engraving by James Pollard.
Sire	Soothsayer
Grandsire	Sorcerer
Dam	Pledge
Damsire	Waxy
Sex	Stallion
Foaled	1816
Country	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Colour	Brown
Breeder	William Bentinck, 4th Duke of Portland
Owner	Duke of Portland
Record	13:11-2-0
Major wins
Newmarket Stakes (1819) Epsom Derby (1819) Newmarket St Leger (1819) Audley End Stakes (1819)

Tiresias (1816–1837) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career that lasted from April 1819 to July 1820 he ran thirteen times, all but two of them at Newmarket and won eleven races. Both of his defeats came when he was attempting to concede weight to opponents in match races. His most important win came in May 1819 when he won the Derby. Tiresias's racing career was ended by injury in the summer of 1820, after which he was retired to stud.

Tiresias was a brown horse standing 16 hands high bred by his owner William Bentinck, 4th Duke of Portland a leading member of the Jockey Club who owned much of the land around Newmarket Racecourse. Nicknamed "The Farmer Duke", Portland bred horses at his stately home at Welbeck Abbey in Nottinghamshire. Tiresias was sired by Soothsayer, who won the St Leger in 1811 and went on to be a successful stud horse, being the Leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland in 1819. Apart from Tiresias, his most notable winner was the 2000 Guineas winner Interpreter. He was eventually sold and exported to Russia.

Tiresias was trained at Newmarket by the Duke's private trainer Richard Prince and ridden in most of his important races by the veteran jockey Bill Clift, whose strong but unsophisticated style was particularly effective on front-running horses.

Tirsesias was unraced as a two-year-old and began his racing career by winning five prizes in eighteen days at Newmarket in the spring of 1819. On 12 April, the opening day of the Craven meeting, Tiresias started at odds of 1/3 for a 200 guinea Sweepstakes over one mile and defeated his only rival, the Duke of Grafton's Vanguard. Three days later, his owner was able to claim a further 100 guineas without having to run his horse, when Tiresias was allowed to walk over in another Sweepstakes. Tiresias added a further 100 guineas to his earnings the following day when his opponent in a scheduled match race failed to appear.