Kindergarten (horse)
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| Kindergarten | |
|---|---|
| Sire | Kincardine |
| Grandsire | Gay Crusader |
| Dam | Valadore |
| Damsire | Valkyrian |
| Sex | Ridgling colt |
| Foaled | 1937 |
| Country | New Zealand |
| Colour | Bay |
| Owner | E. N. Fitzgerald |
| Record | 35: 25-3-3 |
| Earnings | $32,160 |
| Major Racing Wins, Awards and Honours | |
| Major Racing Wins | |
| Wellington Cup (1941) Great Northern Derby (1941) Easter Handicap (1941, 1942) Auckland Cup (1943) |
|
| Honours | |
| New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame (2006) | |
| Infobox last updated on: Tuesday June 10, 2008. | |
Kindergarten (foaled 1937) was a New Zealand racehorse during the early 1940s. He won many of the premier events in New Zealand including the Wellington Cup and Auckland Cup. He won over £16,000 in stake money, a large amount during the War. In his one trip to Australia he was allocated a prohibitive weight, and came third in the Warwick Stakes to High Caste and Freckles, two great Australian champions. After the race he was unsettled, and rather than risk damage, he was returned to New Zealand.
Three times he was assessed as top weight in the Melbourne Cup, a race in which he would never partake, sometimes at a greater handicap than the mighty Phar Lap.
As a three year-old, Kindergarten won ten of 13 races, with those ten coming in a row after starting the season with three minor placings. Among his victories as a three year-old were the Great Northern Derby, Wellington Cup and the first of his two victories in the Easter Handicap, in which he carried 9 st 11 lb, the highest weight ever carried to victory in the race by a three year-old.
His Auckland Cup victory in 1943 is regarded as his greatest performance. He carried 10 st 2 lb against a high-quality field and beat them by five lengths in a then track record time of 3 minutes 22 seconds.
Overall he raced 35 times for 25 wins and 6 placings and is regarded by many who saw him race as possibly the greatest horse to have ever raced in New Zealand.
