Strawberry Road

Strawberry Road (28 September 1979 – 1 June 1995) was a champion Australian Thoroughbred racehorse who went on to race in Germany, France, the United States, and Japan. Bred in New South Wales, he was by the 'superbly-bred'[1] Whiskey Road (Nijinsky-Bowl of Flowers) out of Giftisa (by Rich Gift - a grandson of Nasrullah and Abernant).

Strawberry Road
SireWhiskey Road
GrandsireNijinsky II
DamGiftisa
DamsireRich Gift
SexStallion
Foaled28 September 1979
CountryAustralia
ColourBay
BreederJ. Pantos & G. Georgopoulos
OwnerJ. Pantos & A. Pantos, G. Georgopoulos, M. Menegazzo, Ray Stehr and John Singleton (Australia)
Daniel Wildenstein (France)
Allen E. Paulson & Bruce McNall (United States)
TrainerDoug Bougoure (Australia)
John Nicholls (Australia & Germany)
Patrick Biancone (France)
Charlie Whittingham (United States)
Record45: 17-7-7
EarningsUS$1,713,958
Major wins
Rosehill Guineas (1983)
AJC Derby (1983)
Queensland Derby (1983)
Freeway Stakes (1983)
W S Cox Plate (1983)
Grosser Preis von Baden (1984)
Prix d'Harcourt (1985)
Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud (1985)
Arcadia Handicap (1986)
Awards
Australian Champion Racehorse of the Year (1983)
German Champion Older Horse (1984)
Australian Racing Hall of Fame (2009)
Honours
Royal Agricultural Society of Queensland:
Equine Hall of Fame
Last updated on 23 October 2009

Racing career

In Australia

Trained by Doug Bougoure, Strawberry Road had two starts late in his two-year-old season before making a winning start to the new season on 11 August 1982, in the Queensland Maiden Handicap at Eagle Farm. Following a spell, he progressed from an Improvers to a Graduation with four wins in a row. Taken to Sydney, and stepped up to stakes company, he finished second to Marscay (the previous year's Golden Slipper winner) in the Hobartville Stakes, and, after two further lead-up runs, recorded his first Group One wins in the Rosehill Guineas and the AJC Derby. Back in Queensland, following a brief let-up, Strawberry Road won three of his four starts, including the Queensland Derby. After recording 10 wins for the season, including three in Group One races, Strawberry Road was named Australia's champion racehorse for the 1982–1983 season.

In the spring, Strawberry Road campaigned in Melbourne, and, interspersed with defeats at Caulfield, won the Freeway Stakes, the Centennial Stakes, and the Cox Plate. In the autumn, Strawberry Road failed to find his best form, and, after 26 starts in Australia, which produced 13 wins, three seconds, and three-thirds,[2] a controlling interest was sold to Ray Stehr and John Singleton, who exported him to France.[3]

International Campaigns

Trained by John Nicholls, Strawberry Road won the Grosser Preis von Baden in Germany in 1984. He then finished fifth in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in France, third and fourth, respectively, in the Washington, D.C. International Stakes and the Breeders' Cup Turf in the United States, and closed the year with a seventh in the Japan Cup, ridden by the great English jockey Lester Piggott.

Strawberry Road returned to France in 1985, and, under new trainer Patrick Biancone, won the Prix d'Harcourt. He was then sold to prominent French horseman Daniel Wildenstein, for whom he won the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud. Wildenstein then sent Strawberry Road to the United States, where he ran second to the champion Pebbles, by a neck, in the Breeders' Cup Turf. Sold to Allen Paulson and Bruce McNall, Strawberry Road remained in the United States, and was trained by Hall of Fame trainer Charlie Whittingham.

Now seven, Strawberry Road recorded the last feature win of his career in the Arcadia Handicap at California's Santa Anita Park in 1986.

At Stud

Retired to stud by Paulson (now his sole owner), at his Brookside Farm in Versailles, Kentucky, Strawberry Road was a highly successful sire. His 368 progeny included 233 winners, and among the most successful were:

Strawberry Road is also the damsire of:

In 1995, Strawberry Road contracted a bacterial infection that led to peritonitis and pneumonia. In a weakened condition, he fell in his stall, fracturing the femur in his right hindleg, and had to be euthanised.

Pedigree

Pedigree of Strawberry Road, bay stallion, foaled 28 September 1979
Sire
Whiskey Road
b. 1972
Nijinsky II
b. 1967
Northern Dancer
b. 1961
Nearctic
Natalma
Flaming Page
b. 1959
Bull Page
Flaring Top
Bowl of Flowers
ch. 1958
Sailor II
ch. 1952
Eight Thirty
Flota
Flower Bowl
b. 1952
Alibhai
Flower Bed
Dam
Giftisa
b. 1974
Rich Gift
gr. 1959
Princely Gift
b. 1951
Nasrullah
Blue Gem
Riccal
gr. 1953
Abernant
Congo
Wahkeena
b. 1963
Red Jester
br. 1948
Red Mars
Climax
Royal Souci
b. 1952
Regal Diamond
Carefree (Family 18)

References

  1. The long and winding Roads
  2. Strawberry Road's racing career (in Australia only)
  3. ASB Strawberry Road Retrieved on 6 June 2009 (Note: Date of export to France is not correct and did not occur until 1984)
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