Alysheba (USA)
March 3, 1984 – March 27, 2009
Alydar (USA) x Bel Sheba (USA), by Lt. Stevens (USA)
Family 20
March 3, 1984 – March 27, 2009
Alydar (USA) x Bel Sheba (USA), by Lt. Stevens (USA)
Family 20
Alysheba defined himself in the 1987 Kentucky Derby (USA-G1). After nearly going to his knees when Bet Twice cut him off in the stretch, Alysheba somehow picked himself up to overcome two more episodes of interference by the same colt and win the Run for the Roses. Alysheba later secured champion 3-year-old male honors with a desperately close second to Ferdinand in the Breeders Cup Classic's first meeting of Kentucky Derby winners. Dismissed by many of the New York sportswriting establishment as a “druggie” that could not win off furosemide, Alysheba proceeded to do just that at 4, in the process turning in the best campaign seen in the handicap ranks since Spectacular Bid's retirement. Like most other sons of Alydar, he proved disappointing at stud.
Race record
26 starts, 11 wins, 8 seconds, 2 thirds, US$6,679,242
1986:
1987:
1988:
Honors
Assessments
Alysheba was rated #42 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).
Rated at 122 pounds on the Experimental Free Handicap for American juveniles of 1986, 4 pounds below champion Capote.
Highweighted at 127 pounds on the Daily Racing Form's Free Handicap for American 3-year-old males of 1987, 1 pound above Bet Twice and Java Gold.
Highweighted at 128 pounds on the Daily Racing Form's Free Handicap for American older males of 1988, 2 pounds above second-rated Lost Code.
As an individual
A handsome bay with the hard, clean lines of a good hunter and a regal bearing, Alysheba underwent throat surgery early in his 3-year-old season for an entrapped epiglottis and was placed on furosemide as a precaution following the surgery. He later raced successfully off Lasix as a 4-year-old. He possessed exceptional agility and determination and was said to recognize his closest rival, Bet Twice, on sight. Those who knew Alysheba well reported him as being exceptionally intelligent.
As a stallion
According to Jockey Club records, Alysheba sired 206 winners (46.6%) and 16 stakes winners (3.6%) from 442 named foals. The Blood-Horse credits Alysheba with 18 stakes winners.
Sire rankings
Per Great Thoroughbred Sires of the World (2006, Churchill, Reichard, and Rogers):
Notable progeny
Alywow (CAN), Moonlight Dance (USA)
Notable progeny of daughters
Bullish Luck (USA)
Connections
Alysheba was bred by Preston Madden. He was purchased for US$500,000 at the 1985 Keeneland July yearling sale by Clarence Scharbauer, who raced Alysheba in the name of his wife Dorothy and daughter Pamela. The colt was trained by Jack Van Berg. Alysheba enttered stud in 1989 in Kentucky at Lane's End Farm. In 2000 he was exported to Saudi Arabia, where he stood at Janadriyah Stud Farm near Riyadh. He was given as a gift to the American people by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia following the 2008 breeding season and was pensioned at the Kentucky Horse Park's Hall of Champions on October 31, 2008. He was humanely destroyed due to neurological issues after falling in his stall on March 27, 2009, and was buried at the Memorial Walk of Champions within the Horse Park.
Pedigree notes
Alysheba is inbred 4x4 to Nasrullah. He is a full or half brother to four other stakes winners including Grade 2 winner Alysbelle (by Alydar). His granddam Belthazar is the last foal sired by War Admiral and is closely related to the top-class War Admiral filly Bee Mac, a half sister to Belthazar's dam Blinking Owl (by Pharamond II).
Books and media
Fun facts
Photo credit
Photo taken by Jessica Morgan at the Kentucky Horse Park in 2008. Used by permission.
Last updated: October 16, 2021
Race record
26 starts, 11 wins, 8 seconds, 2 thirds, US$6,679,242
1986:
- 2nd Hollywood Futurity (USA-G1, 8FD, Hollywood)
- 2nd Breeders' Futurity (USA-G2, 8.5FD, Keeneland)
- 2nd In Memoriam Stakes (USA-L, 8FD, Turfway Park)
- 3rd Breeders' Cup Juvenile (USA-G1, 8.5FD, Santa Anita)
1987:
- Won Kentucky Derby (USA-G1, 10FD, Churchill Downs)
- Won Preakness Stakes (USA-G1, 9.5FD, Pimlico)
- Won Super Derby (USA-G1, 10FD, Louisiana Downs)
- 2nd Breeders' Cup Classic (USA-G1, 10FD, Hollywood)
- 2nd Haskell Invitational Handicap (USA-G1, 9FD, Monmouth)
- 2nd San Felipe Handicap (USA-G1, 8.5FD, Santa Anita)
- 3rd Blue Grass Stakes (USA-G1, 9FD, Keeneland; disqualified from first)
1988:
- Won Breeders' Cup Classic (USA-G1, 10FD, Churchill Downs)
- Won Santa Anita Handicap (USA-G1, 10FD, Santa Anita)
- Won Woodward Handicap (USA-G1, 10FD, Belmont; new track record 1:59-2/5)
- Won Meadowlands Cup Handicap (USA-G1, 10FD, The Meadowlands; new track record 1:58-4/5)
- Won Charles H. Strub Stakes (USA-G1, 10FD, Santa Anita)
- Won Philip H. Iselin Handicap (USA-G1, 9FD, Monmouth)
- Won San Bernardino Handicap (USA-G2, 9FD, Santa Anita)
- 2nd Hollywood Gold Cup Handicap (USA-G1, 10FD, Hollywood)
Honors
- National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame (inducted in 1993)
- Arcadia Historical Society's Racing Walk of Champions (inducted as part of the inaugural class in 2014)
- Monmouth Park Hall of Champions
- Texas Horse Racing Hall of Fame (inducted in 2019)
- Eclipse Award, American Horse of the Year (1988)
- Eclipse Award, American champion 3-year-old male (1987)
- Eclipse Award, American champion older male (1988)
Assessments
Alysheba was rated #42 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).
Rated at 122 pounds on the Experimental Free Handicap for American juveniles of 1986, 4 pounds below champion Capote.
Highweighted at 127 pounds on the Daily Racing Form's Free Handicap for American 3-year-old males of 1987, 1 pound above Bet Twice and Java Gold.
Highweighted at 128 pounds on the Daily Racing Form's Free Handicap for American older males of 1988, 2 pounds above second-rated Lost Code.
As an individual
A handsome bay with the hard, clean lines of a good hunter and a regal bearing, Alysheba underwent throat surgery early in his 3-year-old season for an entrapped epiglottis and was placed on furosemide as a precaution following the surgery. He later raced successfully off Lasix as a 4-year-old. He possessed exceptional agility and determination and was said to recognize his closest rival, Bet Twice, on sight. Those who knew Alysheba well reported him as being exceptionally intelligent.
As a stallion
According to Jockey Club records, Alysheba sired 206 winners (46.6%) and 16 stakes winners (3.6%) from 442 named foals. The Blood-Horse credits Alysheba with 18 stakes winners.
Sire rankings
Per Great Thoroughbred Sires of the World (2006, Churchill, Reichard, and Rogers):
- 8th on the combined English/Irish broodmare sire list in 2002.
Notable progeny
Alywow (CAN), Moonlight Dance (USA)
Notable progeny of daughters
Bullish Luck (USA)
Connections
Alysheba was bred by Preston Madden. He was purchased for US$500,000 at the 1985 Keeneland July yearling sale by Clarence Scharbauer, who raced Alysheba in the name of his wife Dorothy and daughter Pamela. The colt was trained by Jack Van Berg. Alysheba enttered stud in 1989 in Kentucky at Lane's End Farm. In 2000 he was exported to Saudi Arabia, where he stood at Janadriyah Stud Farm near Riyadh. He was given as a gift to the American people by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia following the 2008 breeding season and was pensioned at the Kentucky Horse Park's Hall of Champions on October 31, 2008. He was humanely destroyed due to neurological issues after falling in his stall on March 27, 2009, and was buried at the Memorial Walk of Champions within the Horse Park.
Pedigree notes
Alysheba is inbred 4x4 to Nasrullah. He is a full or half brother to four other stakes winners including Grade 2 winner Alysbelle (by Alydar). His granddam Belthazar is the last foal sired by War Admiral and is closely related to the top-class War Admiral filly Bee Mac, a half sister to Belthazar's dam Blinking Owl (by Pharamond II).
Books and media
- Alysheba's eventful Derby trip is recounted in “What a Trip!”, the ninth chapter of The 10 Best Kentucky Derbies. Written by the staff and correspondents of The Blood-Horse, the book was released by Eclipse Press in 2005.
- Alysheba was profiled in Chapter 11 of Avalyn Hunter's American Classic Pedigrees 1914-2012 (2003, Eclipse Press).
- Alysheba is one of 50 Thoroughbreds profiled in Royal Blood: Fifty Years of Classic Thoroughbreds. Written by racing historian Jim Bolus with illustrations and commentary by noted equine artist Richard Stone Reeves, the book was released by The Blood-Horse, Inc., in 1994.
- Footage of Alysheba's victory in the 1988 Breeders' Cup Classic can be accessed at the Breeders' Cup Hall of Champions (https://www.breederscup.com/history-tradition/hall-champions/alysheba).
Fun facts
- Alysheba was the sixth horse foaled at Preston Madden's Hamburg Place to win the Kentucky Derby. The other five had all been foaled while the farm was owned by Madden's grandfather John E. Madden.
- Alysheba's only official victory prior to the 1987 Kentucky Derby was an 8½ furlong maiden special weight on dirt at Turfway Park the previous September.
- On November 19, 1988, Churchill Downs hosted an official retirement ceremony for Alysheba, during which the colt was paraded on the track and in the paddock. His regular jockey, Chris McCarron, flew in from the West Coast specifically to ride Alysheba for the event.
- Alysheba inherited John Henry's stall at the Kentucky Horse Park's Hall of Champions. He was the second Kentucky Derby winner to reside in the Hall of Champions, following 1976 winner Bold Forbes, who lived there in 1991-2000. Two other Kentucky Derby winners have also been residents at the Horse Park: Funny Cide (2008-2023) and Go for Gin (2011-2022).
- A statue of Alysheba was erected at the front entrance of the AEGON Center in Louisville, Kentucky.
- The Alysheba Stakes was inaugurated at Churchill Downs in 2004. As of 2021, it is carded as a Grade 2 race for horses aged 4 and up at 8.5 furlongs on dirt.
Photo credit
Photo taken by Jessica Morgan at the Kentucky Horse Park in 2008. Used by permission.
Last updated: October 16, 2021