Pebbles (GB)
April 25, 2003 – Summer 2005
Sharpen Up (GB) x La Douce (GB), by Connaught (GB)
Family 2-f
April 25, 2003 – Summer 2005
Sharpen Up (GB) x La Douce (GB), by Connaught (GB)
Family 2-f
A brilliant but not very sound filly, Pebbles was a European Classic winner at age 3 and reached her peak at age 4, when she wheeled back off a victory in the Dubai Champion Stakes (GB-G1) to capture the Breeders’ Cup Turf (USA-G1). Her 1985 season earned her championships on both sides of the Atlantic. Unfortunately, she proved to be a much better race mare than she was a producer.
Race record
15 starts, 8 wins, 5 seconds, 0 thirds, US$1,429,213 (includes converted English earnings)
1983:
1984:
1985:
Honors
Assessments
Rated at 119 pounds on the Free Handicap for English juveniles of 1983, 6 pounds below highweighted filly Almeira.
Ranked fifth among European 3-year-old fillies of 1984 on the International Classification.
At 4, earned a Timeform rating of 135 pounds.
Rated at 127 pounds on the Daily Racing Form’s Free Handicap for American-raced females on turf, 2 pounds above second-rated Estrapade and Sabin.
In their book A Century of Champions (1999, Portway Press Ltd.), British experts John Randall and Tony Morris rated Pebbles the fourth-best British filly of the 20th century.
As an individual
A sparely-made chestnut mare, Pebbles had an electric turn of foot. She was light on bone and not very sound. Like many other high-class race mares, she had a mind of her own and had to be given her way most of the time.
As a producer
Pebbles produced 11 named foals, of which six started and two won. None of her foals either earned black type or produced a black-type stakes winner.
Connections
Pebbles was bred by Marcos Lemos and made her first seven starts in Lemos's colors. Afterward, she was owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, who purchased her after her win in the One Thousand Guineas. She was trained by Clive Brittain, who had been familiar with her since she was foaled. She was ridden to her Breeders’ Cup Turf triumph by Pat Eddery. She was exported to Darley's Fukumitsu Farm, Japan in 1996. She was pensioned in 2002 and was humanely destroyed in the summer of 2005.
Pedigree notes
Pebbles is inbred 4x5 to six-time English/Irish champion sire Hyperion, the winner of the 1933 Derby Stakes and St. Leger Stakes. She is a half sister to Dolsk (by Danzig), dam of Japanese Group 3 winner Millennium Bio (by Sunday Silence) and Japanese listed stakes winner Admire Touch (by Timber Country). She is also a half sister to Ela Meem (by Kris), third dam of French Group 2 winner Our Jonathan.
Pebbles was the first foal of stakes-placed La Douce (by 1970 Eclipse Stakes winner Connaught), who ran a creditable fifth in the 1979 Oaks Stakes. La Douce is a half sister to stakes-placed Princess Zena (by Habitat), dam of multiple Group 3 winner Supreme Leader (by Bustino), UAE listed stakes winner Dancing Zena (by Dancing Brave), and hurdle stakes winner Oceanus (by Julio Mariner). She is also a half sister to Starbright (by Petingo), second dam of multiple New Zealand Group 1 winner Fritz; to Port Ahoy (by Petingo), dam of Italian Group 3 winner Pretty Pol (by Final Straw) and third dam of English Group 3 winner Big Timer and multiple Turkish champion Invincible Girl; and to Waulkmill (by Grundy), whose grandson Ronnie Mc was the co-champion imported 3-year-old male of 2001 in the Dominican Republic.
La Dolce and her siblings were produced from Guiding Light, whose sire Crepello won the 1957 Two Thousand Guineas and Derby Stakes and was that year’s English champion 3-year-old male. Produced from stakes-placed Arbitrate II (by 1948 French champion older male Arbar), a half sister to the good English stakes winners Doutelle (by Prince Chevalier) and Above Suspicion (by Court Martial), Guiding Light is a half sister to Kaula (by Kauai King), dam of South African Group 3 winner King Kaul (by Trocadero). The female line traces back to the great English matron Feola, whose family has been highly successful around the world and includes American champions Round Table and Turkish Trousers, English champions Tessla and Aureole, and Argentine champions Sideral and Siderea.
Books and media
Footage of Pebbles’s wins in the 1985 Breeders’ Cup Turf and Dubai Champion Stakes can be accessed within Graham Dench’s Thoroughbred Racing Commentary article of October 16, 2023, “How a Cheeky Ploy Helped England’s Superfilly Pebbles to Pioneering Breeders’ Cup Success – Interview With Clive Brittain” (https://www.thoroughbredracing.com/articles/6024/how-cheeky-ploy-helped-englands-superfilly-pebbles-pioneering-breeders-cup-success-interview-clive-brittain/).
Fun facts
Last updated: October 31, 2023
Race record
15 starts, 8 wins, 5 seconds, 0 thirds, US$1,429,213 (includes converted English earnings)
1983:
- 2nd Cheveley Park Stakes (ENG-G1, 6FT, Newmarket)
1984:
- Won One Thousand Guineas (ENG-G1, 8FT, Newmarket)
- Won Nell Gwyn Stakes (ENG-G3, 7FT, Newmarket)
- 2nd Coronation Stakes (ENG-G1, 8FT, Ascot)
- 2nd Dubai Champion Stakes (ENG-G1, about 10FT, Newmarket)
1985:
- Won Breeders' Cup Turf Stakes (USA-G1, 12FT, Aqueduct)
- Won Coral-Eclipse S. (ENG-G1, about 10FT, Sandown)
- Won Dubai Champion Stakes (ENG-G1, about 10FT, Newmarket)
- Won Trusthouse Forte Mile (ENG-G2, 8FT, Sandown)
- 2nd Prince of Wales's Stakes (ENG-G2, about 10FT, Ascot)
Honors
- QIPCO British Champions Series Hall of Fame (inducted in 2023)
- Timeform Horse of the Year (1985)
- Racegoers’ Club English Horse of the Year (1985)
- Eclipse Award, American champion turf female (1985)
- English champion miler (1985)
- English champion older female (1985)
Assessments
Rated at 119 pounds on the Free Handicap for English juveniles of 1983, 6 pounds below highweighted filly Almeira.
Ranked fifth among European 3-year-old fillies of 1984 on the International Classification.
At 4, earned a Timeform rating of 135 pounds.
Rated at 127 pounds on the Daily Racing Form’s Free Handicap for American-raced females on turf, 2 pounds above second-rated Estrapade and Sabin.
In their book A Century of Champions (1999, Portway Press Ltd.), British experts John Randall and Tony Morris rated Pebbles the fourth-best British filly of the 20th century.
As an individual
A sparely-made chestnut mare, Pebbles had an electric turn of foot. She was light on bone and not very sound. Like many other high-class race mares, she had a mind of her own and had to be given her way most of the time.
As a producer
Pebbles produced 11 named foals, of which six started and two won. None of her foals either earned black type or produced a black-type stakes winner.
Connections
Pebbles was bred by Marcos Lemos and made her first seven starts in Lemos's colors. Afterward, she was owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, who purchased her after her win in the One Thousand Guineas. She was trained by Clive Brittain, who had been familiar with her since she was foaled. She was ridden to her Breeders’ Cup Turf triumph by Pat Eddery. She was exported to Darley's Fukumitsu Farm, Japan in 1996. She was pensioned in 2002 and was humanely destroyed in the summer of 2005.
Pedigree notes
Pebbles is inbred 4x5 to six-time English/Irish champion sire Hyperion, the winner of the 1933 Derby Stakes and St. Leger Stakes. She is a half sister to Dolsk (by Danzig), dam of Japanese Group 3 winner Millennium Bio (by Sunday Silence) and Japanese listed stakes winner Admire Touch (by Timber Country). She is also a half sister to Ela Meem (by Kris), third dam of French Group 2 winner Our Jonathan.
Pebbles was the first foal of stakes-placed La Douce (by 1970 Eclipse Stakes winner Connaught), who ran a creditable fifth in the 1979 Oaks Stakes. La Douce is a half sister to stakes-placed Princess Zena (by Habitat), dam of multiple Group 3 winner Supreme Leader (by Bustino), UAE listed stakes winner Dancing Zena (by Dancing Brave), and hurdle stakes winner Oceanus (by Julio Mariner). She is also a half sister to Starbright (by Petingo), second dam of multiple New Zealand Group 1 winner Fritz; to Port Ahoy (by Petingo), dam of Italian Group 3 winner Pretty Pol (by Final Straw) and third dam of English Group 3 winner Big Timer and multiple Turkish champion Invincible Girl; and to Waulkmill (by Grundy), whose grandson Ronnie Mc was the co-champion imported 3-year-old male of 2001 in the Dominican Republic.
La Dolce and her siblings were produced from Guiding Light, whose sire Crepello won the 1957 Two Thousand Guineas and Derby Stakes and was that year’s English champion 3-year-old male. Produced from stakes-placed Arbitrate II (by 1948 French champion older male Arbar), a half sister to the good English stakes winners Doutelle (by Prince Chevalier) and Above Suspicion (by Court Martial), Guiding Light is a half sister to Kaula (by Kauai King), dam of South African Group 3 winner King Kaul (by Trocadero). The female line traces back to the great English matron Feola, whose family has been highly successful around the world and includes American champions Round Table and Turkish Trousers, English champions Tessla and Aureole, and Argentine champions Sideral and Siderea.
Books and media
Footage of Pebbles’s wins in the 1985 Breeders’ Cup Turf and Dubai Champion Stakes can be accessed within Graham Dench’s Thoroughbred Racing Commentary article of October 16, 2023, “How a Cheeky Ploy Helped England’s Superfilly Pebbles to Pioneering Breeders’ Cup Success – Interview With Clive Brittain” (https://www.thoroughbredracing.com/articles/6024/how-cheeky-ploy-helped-englands-superfilly-pebbles-pioneering-breeders-cup-success-interview-clive-brittain/).
Fun facts
- Pebbles was the first filly or mare to win the Eclipse Stakes, a race run since 1886 (though with hiatuses in 1915-1918 due to World War I and 1940-1945 due to World War II). She was also the first English-trained horse to win the Breeders’ Cup Turf and the first filly or mare to do so.
- Following her One Thousand Guineas win, Pebbles seemed a contender for the Oaks Stakes but was diverted to the Coronation Stakes instead as her next outing as Sheikh Mohammed already had two other Oaks candidates.
- Because Pebbles’ legs were often questionable, she was frequently exercised by swimming rather than being ridden on the gallops.
- Pebbles’ high-strung nerves were calmed somewhat by her stable companion, a gelding named Come On The Blues who had enough talent of his own to win the 1985 Royal Hunt Cup at Ascot. She also got a pint of Guinness daily.
- In order to avoid having Pebbles overwrought in the Breeders’ Cup post parade, Clive Brittain made arrangements (aided by a US$100 bribe) with a member of the Aqueduct service staff to have his star filly brought to the race through a maintenance/supply tunnel that led under the grandstand and the track and exited near the start of the turf course.
- Pebbles was the first filly or mare inducted into the QIPCO British Champions Series Hall of Fame.
- Pebbles is the namesake for the Pebbles Stakes, a one-mile turf race for fillies and mares that was last run as a Grade 3 race during the 2022 Belmont-at-Aqueduct meeting. It had previously been staged at Belmont but had been moved due to ongoing renovations at the “Big Sandy.”
Last updated: October 31, 2023