Grey Classic

Grey Classic (1983-1989) was a Canadian Thoroughbred Champion racehorse.

Background

Bred and raced by Ernie L. Samuel's Sam-Son Farm of Milton, Ontario, Grey Classic was conditioned for racing by Olympic equestrian Gold Medalist and Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee, Jim Day.

Racing career

Ridden by Irwin Driedger, as a two-year-old in 1985 Grey Classic won four of seven starts including the Summer Stakes ^[1] and then the two top races for Canadian juveniles, the Cup and Saucer Stakes on turf ^[2] and the Coronation Futurity Stakes on dirt.^[3] Grey Classic's performances earned him Canadian Champion Two-Year-Old Colt honors for 1985.

At age three, Grey Classic suffered with condition problems and did not race until July 13, 1986 when he ran eighth as one of the favorites in the Queen's Plate, Canada's most prestigious race and first leg of the Canadian Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing. Minor injuries kept the colt out of the next two legs of the Triple Crown and a series of ailments meant he would not win an important race again until age five. On June 5, 1988 he won the Connaught Cup Stakes at Woodbine Racetrack then in November, in what would turn out to be his last race, Grey Classic won the mile and a half Laurel Turf Cup Handicap at Maryland's Laurel Park Racecourse. ^[4]

Two months later, the January 10, 1989 edition of the Toronto Star reported that Grey Classic had dropped dead at the Sam-Son Farm in Florida.^[5]

References

• Grey Classic's pedigree and partial racing stats