Gallorette (USA)

1942 – August 1959

Challenger II (IRE) x Gallette (USA), by Sir Gallahad III (FR)

Family 17-b

​"GENETIC GEM"

A big, rather masculine mare, Gallorette knocked heads with the best of the tough handicap division of the mid-1940s and came away with her share of honors. While lacking the brilliance of her contemporary Busher, she was tough, sound, durable and able to give weight and a beating to any but the best of the males. Her finest hour was when she defeated her fellow Hall of Famer Stymie by a neck in the 1946 Brooklyn Handicap with only a 5-pound weight concession after her sex allowance was taken into account. Gallorette died after a relatively short broodmare career but left two stakes-winning daughters to continue a family still active today.


Race record

72 starts, 21 wins, 20 seconds, 13 thirds, US$445,535

1944:

• 2nd Maryland Futurity (USA, 6FD, Laurel)
• 3rd Selima Stakes (USA, 8.5FD, Laurel)

1945:

• Won Empire City Stakes (USA, 9.5FD, Empire City)
• Won Pimlico Oaks (USA, 8.5FD, Pimlico)
• Won Acorn Stakes (USA, 8FD, Belmont)
• Won Delaware Oaks (USA, 9FD, Delaware)
• 2nd Dwyer Stakes (USA, 10FD, Aqueduct)
• 2nd Wood Memorial Stakes (1st division) (USA, 8.5FD, Jamaica)

1946:

• Won Beldame Handicap (USA, 9FD, Belmont)
• Won Brooklyn Handicap (USA, 10FD, Aqueduct)
• Won Metropolitan Handicap (USA, 8FD, Belmont)
• Won Bay Shore Handicap (USA, 7FD, Aqueduct)
• 2nd Butler Handicap (USA, 9.5FD, Jamaica)
• 2nd Edgemere Handicap (USA, 9FD, Aqueduct)
• 2nd Sussex Handicap (USA, 10FD, Delaware)
• 2nd Wilson Stakes (USA, 8FD, Saratoga)
• 3rd Massachusetts Handicap (USA, 9FD, Suffolk Downs)

1947:

• Won Queens County Handicap (USA, 8.5FD, Aqueduct)
• Won Wilson Stakes (USA, 8FD, Saratoga; new track record 1:35-2/5)
• 2nd Beldame Handicap (USA, 9FD, Aqueduct)
• 2nd Saratoga Handicap (USA, 10FD, Saratoga)
• 2nd Aqueduct Handicap (USA, 8.5FD, Aqueduct)
• 2nd Scarsdale Handicap (USA, 8.5FD, Jamaica)
• 2nd Whitney Stakes (USA, 10FD, Saratoga)
• 2nd Bryan and O'Hara Memorial Handicap (USA, 9.5FD, Bowie)
• 3rd Butler Handicap (USA, 9.5FD, Jamaica)
• 3rd Ladies Handicap (USA, 12FD, Belmont)
• 3rd Carter Handicap (USA, 7FD, Aqueduct)
• 3rd Metropolitan Handicap (USA, 8FD, Belmont)
• 3rd Monmouth Handicap (USA, 10FD, Monmouth)

1948:

• Won Carter Handicap (USA, 7FD, Aqueduct)
• Won Whitney Stakes (USA, 10FD, Saratoga)
• Won Wilson Stakes (USA, 8FD, Saratoga)
• 2nd Brooklyn Handicap (USA, 10FD, Aqueduct),
• 2nd Ladies Handicap (USA, 12FD, Belmont)
• 2nd Firenze Handicap (USA, 8.5FD, Jamaica)
• 3rd Gallant Fox Handicap (USA, 9.5FD, Jamaica)
• 3rd Beldame Handicap (USA, 9FD, Aqueduct)
• 3rd Top Flight Handicap (USA, 8.5FD, Aqueduct)

Honors

• National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame (inducted in 1962)
• Saratoga Walk of Fame (inducted in 2014)
• Maryland Thoroughbred Hall of Fame (inducted in the inaugural class of 2013)
• Aiken Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame (inducted in 1977)
• American champion handicap mare (1946)

Assessments

Gallorette rated #45 among the top 100 American racehorses of the 20th century by a panel of experts assembled by The Blood-Horse (Thoroughbred Champions, Eclipse Press, 7th printing, 2005), and was third among the 26 fillies and mares on the list.

Rated second among American 3-year-old fillies of 1945 by The Blood-Horse.


As an individual

A light chestnut, Gallorette stood 16.1 hands. She was well-made but more Amazonian than refined and had excellent bone. Her rump was more sloping than average. She was known for her gameness and determination.


As a producer

Designated as a Reine-de-Course by pedigree analyst Ellen Parker, Gallorette produced seven named foals. Four started and three were winners. Her important foals are as follow:

• Mlle. Lorette (1950, by Lovely Night) won the 1954 Gallorette Stakes, setting a track record into the bargain. She is the dam of Irish stakes winner Lovely Gale (by Windy City II), runner-up in the 1962 Irish One Thousand Guineas, and of English stakes winner Mlle. Barker (by Mossborough). Mlle. Lorette is the second dam of English Group 3 winner Hatta and of multiple stakes winner Au Printemps, dam of 1987 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (USA-G1) winner Success Express, 1989 Canadian champion turf horse Charlie Barley and 1999 Champagne Stakes (USA-G1) winner Greenwood Lake. Mlle. Lorette is also the third dam of 1997 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (ENG-G1) winner Air Express, a Classic winner in Italy and Germany; 2003 Sword Dancer Invitational Handicap (USA-G1) winner Whitmore's Conn; Grade 2 winner Mud Route; and multiple Grade 3 winner Casa Eire.
• Gallamoud (1952, by Mahmoud) never raced but produced 1966 Irish St. Leger winner White Gloves II (by High Hat).
• Galla Vista (1955, by Discovery) never raced but is the second dam of English Group 3 winner Limone and the third dam of Australian Group 3 winner Pavista.
• Courbette (1957, by Native Dancer) was a multiple stakes winner in Ireland. She is the dam of 1967 Jockey Club Cup winner Dancing Moss (by Ballymoss), who led the Argentine general sire list in 1973. Courbette is the second dam of Irish champion juvenile filly Minstrella, Grade 2 winner Misty Gallore and Canadian Grade 3 winner Allison's Deeds and is the third dam of Grade 3 winners Minidar and Colonial Minstrel and the good sire Silver Ghost.
  
  

Connections

Gallorette was bred by Preston M. Burch and owned by William L. Brann, who co-owned Challenger II and had made arrangements with Burch to alternate ownership of Gallette's foals by his stallion. In breeding Gallette, a daughter of Sir Gallahad III, to Challenger II, Burch and Brann were hoping to duplicate the nick that had produced two-time Horse of the Year Challedon. Gallorette was the first foal bred under this arrangement and fell to Brann's share. She was trained by Edward A. Christmas. Gallorette was sold to Mrs. Marie A. Moore for a reported US$125,000 in September of her 6-year-old season. She died in August 1959 of complications of a leg fracture just a few months after being pensioned from broodmare duty.


Pedigree notes

Gallorette is inbred 5x5x5 to 1899 English Triple Crown winner Flying Fox and is a full sister to Gallita, dam of 1957 American champion 2-year-old male Nadir (by Nasrullah). In human terms, Gallorette was a “first cousin” of 1939 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Johnstown (by Jamestown) and 1937 American champion 2-year-old filly Jacola (by Jacopo; dam of 1947 American champion 3-year-old male Phalanx, by Pilate) as their dams Gallette and La France were full sisters. Gallette is also a half sister to three stakes winners including 1927 Gazelle Stakes winner Flambino (by Wrack), dam of 1935 Triple Crown winner Omaha and 1938 Ascot Gold Cup winner Flares (both by Gallant Fox) as well as the 1934 Acorn Stakes winner Fleam (by General Lee). Gallorette's second dam Flambette (by Durbar II) won the 1921 Coaching Club American Oaks and Latonia Oaks and is a half sister to stakes winner Ned O. (by Campfire) and to La Rablee (by Rabelais), dam of 1930 Newmarket Stakes winner The Scout (by Sir Gallahad III) and third dam of 1949 Irish St. Leger winner Brown Rover.


Books and media

Gallorette's rivalry with Stymie was featured as the sixth chapter of Horse Racing's Greatest Rivalries (2008, Eclipse Press), a compilation produced by the staff of The Blood-Horse.


Fun facts

• Gallorette was the world's leading money-winner among female Thoroughbreds at the time of her retirement.
• Gallorette made 54 of her 71 lifetime starts against males, winning 13 times.
• Gallorette's stable name was "Old Mom."
• Gallette, the champion's dam, cost Burch just US$250 as a 7-year-old. The reason for her low price tag? As longtime racing writer Jay Hovdey put it, she was "slow on the flat and hopeless over jumps."
• In a 1955 poll of the American Trainers Association sponsored by Delaware Park, Gallorette was named the best filly or mare to race in North America up to that time.
• Gallorette was the fourth filly or mare to be inducted into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame.
• The Gallorette Handicap was inaugurated in 1952. As of 2023, it is run as a Grade 3 race over 8.5 furlongs on turf for fillies and mares ages 3 and up at Pimlico.

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Photo credit

Photographer unknown. From the collection of Quarter Horse Record (Susan Larkin); used by permission.



Last updated: January 26, 2024