In 2022, Grayosh was a modest US$25,000 purchase for Sean Flanagan from the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall yearling sale. On August 17, she became the first graded stakes winner for Flanagan’s Flanagan Racing in the Lake Placid Stakes Presented by Caesars Sportsbook (USA-G2). Using a sharp burst of speed, she came off the rail just in time to engage odds-on She Feels Pretty in a duel to the wire and prevailed by an edging-away neck in 1:43.74 for the mile and one-sixteenth on good turf.
Bred by Susan Bedwell, Greyosh is also the first graded stakes winner for her sire Yoshida, a Grade 1 winner on both dirt and turf during his own racing career. A paternal grandson of Sunday Silence via 2005 Japanese champion older male Heart’s Cry, Yoshida was sent to Darley Japan for 2024 after standing at WinStar Farm in 2020-2023. His first crop, now 3-year-olds of 2024, also includes stakes winners Okiro and (in Peru) Sanctuario.
On the dam’s side, Greyosh is a fourth-generation descendant of Sex Appeal, one of the best of the many fine broodmare daughters produced from 1965 Kentucky Broodmare of the Year and modern matriarch Best in Show. A rather narrow chestnut mare sired by 1966 American Horse of the Year Buckpasser, a four-time American champion broodmare sire, Sex Appeal never made it to the track, at least in part because of being decidedly back at the knee. She often transmitted this fault, but this did not stop her from becoming a highly influential in her own right.
Sex Appeal demonstrated both the strengths and the weaknesses of what she had to pass on in her second foal, Try My Best. A son of Northern Dancer, Try My Best inherited his dam’s back-at-the-knee conformation and rather light frame but also possessed a fluid, athletic gait. Purchased by Robert Sangster and raced in Europe under the training of the great Vincent O’Brien, Try My Best was rated as the best English and Irish two-year-old male of 1977 after impressive wins in the William Hill Dewhurst Stakes (ENG-G1) and Larkspur Stakes (IRE-G3). Retired after injuring himself during the running of the 1978 Two Thousand Guineas (ENG-G1), for which he had been favorite, he was a successful sire in spite of his tendency to pass on his own faulty forelegs. Twice the champion sire in Italy, he is best known in the United States as the sire of 1986 Breeders’ Cup Mile (USA-G1) winner Last Tycoon, a champion sire in Australia and in turn the sire of four-time New Zealand champion sire O’Reilly.
Sex Appeal’s next foal was the 1976 Halo filly Solar, a multiple Group 3 winner in Ireland and the second dam of 2004 Nunthorpe Stakes (USA-G1) winner Bahamian Pirate. After that, it took her until 1981 to come up with another stakes winner, but when she did, she produced a horse of the highest class. This was El Gran Senor, a full brother to Try My Best who possessed better foreleg conformation but was flawed by a parrot mouth. Like his brother, he possessed fluid action, and he used it to become a champion at 2 and 3. The one flaw on his record was his short-head loss to another Northern Dancer son, Secreto, in the 1984 Derby Stakes (ENG-G1), but he won the Two Thousand Guineas in a brilliant display and galloped home first in the Irish Sweeps Derby (IRE-G1) in what proved to be the last race of his career. Emulating Try My Best as the English and Irish champion 2-year-old male of 1983, he earned titles as English champion 3-year-old male and champion miler at 3. Unfortunately, he was subfertile as a sire, but he did well anyway with 53 stakes winners from 415 named foals. In the United States he is best remembered as the sire of 1996 American champion sprinter Lit de Justice and of 2002 Kentucky Broodmare of the Year Toussaud, whose four Grade 1 winners included 2002 Belmont Stakes (USA-G1) winner and successful sire Empire Maker.
El Gran Senor was Sex Appeal’s final stakes winner, but his 1977 full brother Northern Guest, unraced due to injury as a youngster, became a champion sire in South Africa. Another full brother, the roguish Compliance, sired the remarkable full brothers Fourstars Allstar (the first American-based horse to win the Irish Two Thousand Guineas, IRE-G1) and Fourstardave, known as the beloved “Sultan of Saratoga” after winning races at the old Spa for eight consecutive seasons.
Sex Appeal also had a number of good broodmare daughters and numbers 2018 Japanese Horse of the Year Almond Eye, 2013/14 Brazilian champion older female Estrela Monarchos, and 2002 Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Domedriver among her tail-female descendants. Grayosh descends from Sex Appeal through her unraced 1979 daughter, Carillon Miss, who produced four stakes winners including 1998 Premio Umbria (ITY-G3) winner Blu Carillon (by Love the Groom) and 2000 Prix du Palais-Royal (FR-G3) winner Blu Air Force (by Sri Pekan). Carillon Miss’s 1999 daughter Nashwan Rose (by 1989 General Accident Two Thousand Guineas and Derby Stakes winner Nashwan) was not one of those stakes winners, but she produced stakes-placed Rosie O’Prado (by 2010 Secretariat Stakes, USA-G1, winner Paddy O’Prado), who produced Grayosh as her second foal after being purchased by Bedwell for just US$15,000 from the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky February sale.
Grayosh now has an even bigger target potentially in her sights, with the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (USA-G1) on October 12 at Keeneland tentatively penciled in as the climax to her season. She will have to prove that she belongs in Grade 1 company and that an additional sixteenth of a mile will not be too much distance for her; in her only previous start at a mile and one-eighth, she was an even fourth in the Wonder Again Stakes (USA-G2) during the spring/summer Belmont at the Big A meeting. She may also be hoping for a little moisture in the surface, as both of her career wins have been over turf rated “good.” Still, the quick gear change that she showed in the Lake Placid has been a persistent trait in Sex Appeal’s family, and it may stand her in good stead for the challenge of her young life.
Bred by Susan Bedwell, Greyosh is also the first graded stakes winner for her sire Yoshida, a Grade 1 winner on both dirt and turf during his own racing career. A paternal grandson of Sunday Silence via 2005 Japanese champion older male Heart’s Cry, Yoshida was sent to Darley Japan for 2024 after standing at WinStar Farm in 2020-2023. His first crop, now 3-year-olds of 2024, also includes stakes winners Okiro and (in Peru) Sanctuario.
On the dam’s side, Greyosh is a fourth-generation descendant of Sex Appeal, one of the best of the many fine broodmare daughters produced from 1965 Kentucky Broodmare of the Year and modern matriarch Best in Show. A rather narrow chestnut mare sired by 1966 American Horse of the Year Buckpasser, a four-time American champion broodmare sire, Sex Appeal never made it to the track, at least in part because of being decidedly back at the knee. She often transmitted this fault, but this did not stop her from becoming a highly influential in her own right.
Sex Appeal demonstrated both the strengths and the weaknesses of what she had to pass on in her second foal, Try My Best. A son of Northern Dancer, Try My Best inherited his dam’s back-at-the-knee conformation and rather light frame but also possessed a fluid, athletic gait. Purchased by Robert Sangster and raced in Europe under the training of the great Vincent O’Brien, Try My Best was rated as the best English and Irish two-year-old male of 1977 after impressive wins in the William Hill Dewhurst Stakes (ENG-G1) and Larkspur Stakes (IRE-G3). Retired after injuring himself during the running of the 1978 Two Thousand Guineas (ENG-G1), for which he had been favorite, he was a successful sire in spite of his tendency to pass on his own faulty forelegs. Twice the champion sire in Italy, he is best known in the United States as the sire of 1986 Breeders’ Cup Mile (USA-G1) winner Last Tycoon, a champion sire in Australia and in turn the sire of four-time New Zealand champion sire O’Reilly.
Sex Appeal’s next foal was the 1976 Halo filly Solar, a multiple Group 3 winner in Ireland and the second dam of 2004 Nunthorpe Stakes (USA-G1) winner Bahamian Pirate. After that, it took her until 1981 to come up with another stakes winner, but when she did, she produced a horse of the highest class. This was El Gran Senor, a full brother to Try My Best who possessed better foreleg conformation but was flawed by a parrot mouth. Like his brother, he possessed fluid action, and he used it to become a champion at 2 and 3. The one flaw on his record was his short-head loss to another Northern Dancer son, Secreto, in the 1984 Derby Stakes (ENG-G1), but he won the Two Thousand Guineas in a brilliant display and galloped home first in the Irish Sweeps Derby (IRE-G1) in what proved to be the last race of his career. Emulating Try My Best as the English and Irish champion 2-year-old male of 1983, he earned titles as English champion 3-year-old male and champion miler at 3. Unfortunately, he was subfertile as a sire, but he did well anyway with 53 stakes winners from 415 named foals. In the United States he is best remembered as the sire of 1996 American champion sprinter Lit de Justice and of 2002 Kentucky Broodmare of the Year Toussaud, whose four Grade 1 winners included 2002 Belmont Stakes (USA-G1) winner and successful sire Empire Maker.
El Gran Senor was Sex Appeal’s final stakes winner, but his 1977 full brother Northern Guest, unraced due to injury as a youngster, became a champion sire in South Africa. Another full brother, the roguish Compliance, sired the remarkable full brothers Fourstars Allstar (the first American-based horse to win the Irish Two Thousand Guineas, IRE-G1) and Fourstardave, known as the beloved “Sultan of Saratoga” after winning races at the old Spa for eight consecutive seasons.
Sex Appeal also had a number of good broodmare daughters and numbers 2018 Japanese Horse of the Year Almond Eye, 2013/14 Brazilian champion older female Estrela Monarchos, and 2002 Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Domedriver among her tail-female descendants. Grayosh descends from Sex Appeal through her unraced 1979 daughter, Carillon Miss, who produced four stakes winners including 1998 Premio Umbria (ITY-G3) winner Blu Carillon (by Love the Groom) and 2000 Prix du Palais-Royal (FR-G3) winner Blu Air Force (by Sri Pekan). Carillon Miss’s 1999 daughter Nashwan Rose (by 1989 General Accident Two Thousand Guineas and Derby Stakes winner Nashwan) was not one of those stakes winners, but she produced stakes-placed Rosie O’Prado (by 2010 Secretariat Stakes, USA-G1, winner Paddy O’Prado), who produced Grayosh as her second foal after being purchased by Bedwell for just US$15,000 from the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky February sale.
Grayosh now has an even bigger target potentially in her sights, with the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (USA-G1) on October 12 at Keeneland tentatively penciled in as the climax to her season. She will have to prove that she belongs in Grade 1 company and that an additional sixteenth of a mile will not be too much distance for her; in her only previous start at a mile and one-eighth, she was an even fourth in the Wonder Again Stakes (USA-G2) during the spring/summer Belmont at the Big A meeting. She may also be hoping for a little moisture in the surface, as both of her career wins have been over turf rated “good.” Still, the quick gear change that she showed in the Lake Placid has been a persistent trait in Sex Appeal’s family, and it may stand her in good stead for the challenge of her young life.
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