From Racing Post...
Infirmities of old age claim matriarch Unsuspected at 36
Nancy Sexton
UNSUSPECTED, the dam of Yorkshire Oaks winners Sally Brown and Untold, was put down last week at Robert Cowell's Bottisham Heath Stud in Newmarket due to the infirmities of old age. The daughter of Above Suspicion, who reached the astonishing age of 36, had lived in retirement for the last 16 years.
“We had her virtually all her life,” said Cowell, who also has the mare's second daughter, 28-year-old Shoot Clear, in retirement at the stud. “We bought Unsuspected as a foal, sold her as a yearling, and bought her back as a two-year-old. She was a decent racemare and there's plenty going on through her daughters – her blood is all over the world.”
Unsuspected made her name as a tough handicapper for trainer Ryan Jarvis, winning eight of 26 starts, from 1m to 1m6f, over three seasons.
Each of her seven foals to race won, but it was through a trio of fillies trained by Sir Michael Stoute during the mid-1980s that she made her name.
The first was Shoot Clear, a daughter of Bay Express, who won the Group 3 Waterford Candelabra Stakes en route to becoming the 1983 champion two-year-old filly. She later finished fourth to Pebbles in the 1,000 Guineas.
Those fine achievements were eclipsed by those of her younger siblings, Sally Brown and Untold, both of whom landed back-to-back runnings of the Yorkshire Oaks in 1985 and 1986. Untold was the more forward of the two, having captured the Group 3 Hoover Fillies' Mile. The daughter of Final Straw was also placed in the Oaks, Irish Oaks and
St Leger.
Sally Brown, unraced at two, won the Ribblesdale Stakes on her third start. The daughter of Posse was also fourth in the Irish Oaks.
Unsuspected's other foals included Listed winner Mohican Girl and useful hurdler Mushtaag. Although she was unable to produce anything similar to her calibre, Shoot Clear became the ancestress of Group 3 winner Mulaqat and stakes-placed pair Dance Clear and Dancing Colors.
Sally Brown bred the Group 3-placed Anne Bonny, while Mohican Girl is granddam of Group 3 winner Satchem.
Unsuspected's first foal, the triple winner Warm Wind, bred Warm Spell, winner of the Lanzarote Hurdle, and Cold Blow, dam of Listed winner Katy Nowaitee.
|