Ribot still remembered

Press, 28 July 1989, Page 24

Ribot still remembered

The great galloper Ribot, which died in 1972, still maintains a strong influence on the Canterbury breeding scene and is likely to do so for some time yet. None has more reason to thank his lucky stars for Ribot than Riccarton Stud’s Mick Murfitt. Murfitt imported the first son of Ribot to come to this country, Ribolight, which had been a handy race horse in England, and was from a classic family. Ribotlight horses generally took time but they did well, and Ribotlight

mares have been conspicuously successful. Murfitt then brought out Palatable, a grandson of Ribot through his fine American racing son, Tom Rolfe, and Palatable’s subsequent deeds are well known. In 1988, three of Ribot’s sons, Tom Rolfe, Graustark and His Majesty were third, second and seventh respectively on the North American Broodmare Sires List while Hoist The Flag, by Tom Rolfe, was fifth. Hoist the Flag is the sire of Silver Blaze which stands at the Manorshire

Stud in Mid-Canterbury again this year. Graustark, which was put down more than a year ago at the Darby Dan Stud in Kentucky at the age of 25, also topped the Broodmare Sire List in England in 1985 largely thanks to the deeds of Oh So Sharp which won the One Thousand Guineas, the Oaks and the St Leger. Pay the Butler, the Japan Cup winner last year, is also from a Graustark mare. Personal Ensign, the older female champion in America in 1988 which retired unbeaten

after thirteen starts, is from a Hoist the Flag mare.. Risen Star, winner Of two legs of the Triple Crown in 1988, is from a mare by Graustark’s brother His Majesty. Tom Rolfe, Palatable’s recently deceased sire, is the sire of the dam of the Mr Prospector horse, Forty Niner which accounted for iiis high position on the maternal list. Ribot never quite matched the deeds of the other champion, bred by Federico Tesio, Nearco, when it came to siring

stallion sons but he or his sons have sired the winners of eleven St Legers, eight Irish Derbys, six Kentucky Derbys; four Prix de L’Arc de Triomphes; three Epsom Derbys and Oaks and three each of the Irish Oaks, French Derbys, Irish Two Thousand Guineas and Italian Derbys. Ribot’s temperament was always a matter for discussion. Ribot hated seeing other horses and would exercise for an hour and a half a day when the other horses all had to be boxed. Another rule was that no one else but his handler entered his paddock. Ribot hated hats and attacked people wearing them in his native Italy. When a small camera was installed in his box in America he simply refused to eat until it was removed. Ribot, never beaten on the track, and the winner of two Arc de Triomphes, passed on some of his characteristics to his sons.