Las Meninas

Las Meninas (foaled 22 April 1991) was an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. In a racing career which lasted from June 1993 to November 1994 she ran eight times and won two races. As a two-year-old she won on her debut and finished second in the Phoenix Stakes at Leopardstown. On her three-year-old debut, Las Meninas defeated Balanchine to win the Classic 1000 Guineas at Newmarket Racecourse becoming the first Irish winner since 1975. She went on to finish second in the Irish 1,000 Guineas at the Curragh but her subsequent form deteriorated and she finished unplaced in her remaining four races. Las Meninas was retired from racing to become a broodmare at the end of her three-year-old season. Background Las Meninas was a bay filly bred in Ireland by her owner, Robert Sangster's Swettenham Stud. She was sired by Glenstal, a son of Northern Dancer who won the National Stakes in 1982 and the Prix Daphnis a year later. Apart from Las Meninas, his best winners included the Premio Parioli winner Candy Glen, and Glen Kate, a mare who won the Hong Kong International Bowl. Las Meninas, who was named after the painting by Velasquez, was sent into training with the former National Hunt jockey Tommy Stack at Golden, County Tipperary. The filly's one eccentricity was her tendency to swish her tail when walking, sometimes regarded as a sign of an unreliable temperament. Racing career Las Meninas made her first appearance in the six furlong Silver Flash Stakes at Leopardstown in June. Ridden by Stephen Craine, she started at odds of 8/1 and won by a length from Danish. After a break of two months, Las Meninas reappeared in the Group One Phoenix Stakes over the same course and distance, in which she was tested against colts including the Norfolk Stakes winner Turtle Island. Ridden by Craine again, Las Meninas was hampered in the early stages but made progress to challenge for the lead in the final furlong, before finishing second to Turtle Island by half a length. When Las Meninas returned in the 1000 Guineas over Newmarket's Rowley Mile course on 28 April 1994 she had been off the course for more than eight months. Stack had struggled to bring the filly to peak fitness because of the unusually wet and cold weather.