Firenze (horse)
Encyclopedia
Firenze also recorded as "Firenzi,", was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Thoroughbred
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...

 Champion
Eclipse Award
The Eclipse Award is an American thoroughbred horse racing award named after the 18th century British racehorse and sire, Eclipse. The Eclipse Awards, honoring the champions of the sport, are sponsored by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association , Daily Racing Form and the National Turf Writers...

 and Hall of Fame
National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers...

 filly
Filly
A filly is a young female horse too young to be called a mare. There are several specific definitions in use.*In most cases filly is a female horse under the age of four years old....

 racehorse
Horse racing
Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...

. The New York Times http://horseracing.about.com/library/blsalvator.htm called Firenze: "...one of the greatest distaffers of the 19th Century."

Foaled at Elmendorf Farm
Elmendorf Farm
Elmendorf Farm is a Kentucky Thoroughbred horse farm in Fayette County, Kentucky, and has been involved with horse racing since the early 19th century...

 in Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...

, Firenze was sold by owner/breeder Daniel Swigert to lawyer
Lawyer
A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political...

 and businessman James Ben Ali Haggin
James Ben Ali Haggin
James Ben Ali Haggin was an Turkish Americanattorney, rancher, investor and a major owner/breeder in the sport of Thoroughbred horse racing...

. Under trainer Matt Byrnes, Firenze became the second filly in American Thoroughbred racing
Thoroughbred horse race
Thoroughbred horse racing is a worldwide sport and industry involving the racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport: Flat racing and National Hunt racing...

 history to earn more than $100,000 in purse money and was voted the retrospective American Champion Older Female Horse for four straight years.

Although a small horse at just 15 hands
Hand (unit)
The hand is a non-SI unit of measurement of length, now used only for the measurement of the height of horses in some English-speaking countries, including Australia, Canada, the UK and the USA. With origins in ancient Egypt, it was originally based on the breadth of a human hand...

, Firenze was noted for her stamina. She competed in up to twenty or more races a year and frequently at distances of 1¼ to 2 miles. However, what makes her performances so remarkable is that she repeatedly defeated the top colts
Colt (horse)
A colt is a young male horse, under the age of four. The term "colt" is often confused with foal, which refers to a horse of either sex under one year of age....

 of the day including the Dwyer Brothers Stable's
Dwyer Brothers Stable
Dwyer Brothers Stable was an American thoroughbred horse racing operation owned by Brooklyn, New York businessmen, Phil and Mike Dwyer.The Dwyer brothers hired trainer Evert Snedecker and purchased their first Thoroughbred, Rhadamanthus, in 1874. In October of that same year they acquired Vigil...

 two future Hall of Fame colts, Hanover
Hanover (thoroughbred horse)
Hanover was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse that won his first 17 race starts. He was the only American stallion to head the Leading sire in North America list for four consecutive years until Bold Ruler did so in 1965.-Background:...

 and Kingston
Kingston (horse)
Kingston was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. He won 89 races, the most in the history of the sport of Thoroughbred racing. Of his 138 starts, he was out of the money only on four occasions. He was later inducted into the United States Racing Hall of Fame.-Breeding:He was bred by James R. Keene...

. As well, in the 1888 season, she was the only horse to beat A. J. Cassatt's
Alexander Cassatt
Alexander Johnston Cassatt was the 7th president of the Pennsylvania Railroad , serving from June 9, 1899 to December 28, 1906. Frequently referred to as A. J. Cassatt, the great accomplishment under his stewardship was the planning and construction of tunnels under the Hudson River to finally...

 Preakness Stakes
Preakness Stakes
The Preakness Stakes is an American flat Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held on the third Saturday in May each year at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is a Grade I race run over a distance of 9.5 furlongs on dirt. Colts and geldings carry 126 pounds ; fillies 121 lb...

 winner and son of the great Longfellow
Longfellow (horse)
Longfellow was one of America's first great Thoroughbred racehorses and the sire of great racehorses. A legend in his own time, he was out of the first crop of the outstanding imported English stallion Leamington....

, The Bard
The Bard (horse)
The Bard was an American Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. He was the most popular horse of his day and one who raced and beat all the top horses. Bred by Charles Reed, owner of the Fairview Stud Farm in Gallatin, Tennessee, his dam was Bradamante and his sire was the U.S...

.

Firenze won the mile and a half Freehold Stakes
Freehold Stakes
The Freehold Stakes was an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually in early August at the Monmouth Park Association's racetrack in Long Branch, New Jersey...

 three straight years between 1888 and 1890. Run at the Long Branch Racetrack in New Jersey
New Jersey
New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

, Firenze was so feared that in the 1889 no owner would enter their horse against her and she won in a walkover
Walkover
In British English, a walkover or W.O. is the awarding of a victory to a contestant because there are no other contestants, or because the other contestants have been disqualified or have forfeited. The term can apply in sport, but can also apply to elections...

.

At her retirement Firenze had achieved the second highest earnings for a filly in American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 history. Miss Woodford won more, and Yo Tambien
Yo Tambien
Yo Tambien was an American Thoroughbred racing filly bred in California by Theodore Winters, a breeder and major landholder from the Washoe Valley in Nevada sometimes called "Black T" due to his huge, black, T-shaped moustache....

 won a bit less.

Firenze began racing at age two and competed through age seven, retiring to her owner's Rancho Del Paso
Rancho Del Paso
Rancho Del Paso was a Mexican land grant in present day Sacramento County, California given in 1844 by Governor Manuel Micheltorena to Eliab Grimes. The grant extended along the north bank of the American River and was bounded roughly by today’s Northgate Boulevard, Manzanita Avenue, and Elkhorn...

 stud farm
Horse breeding
Horse breeding is reproduction in horses, and particularly the human-directed process of selective breeding of animals, particularly purebred horses of a given breed. Planned matings can be used to produce specifically desired characteristics in domesticated horses...

 near Sacramento, California
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...

. As a broodmare, her own progeny, including those sired by her Hall of Fame stablemate Salvator
Salvator (horse)
Salvator was an American thoroughbred race horse considered by many to be one of the best during the latter half of the 19th Century.-California born:...

, achieved only modest success in racing but several of her fillies were successful as broodmares.

Firenze died on March 27, 1902 at Rancho Del Paso. In 1981, she was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers...

.
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