Provideo

Provideo (4 January 1982 – 7 September 2000) was an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In 1984 he set a 20th-century record for a British-trained two-year-old when he won sixteen of his twenty-four races. His most important wins were in two Listed races, the Star Stakes at Sandown Park and the Champion Two-Year-Old Trophy at Ripon Racecourse. Despite being rated twenty pounds below the best horses of the year he was named Horse of the Year by the Timeform organisation and topped the official British Horse of the Year poll conducted by the Racegoer's Club. Background Provideo was a small, compact brown colt bred by his owner Ahmed Foustok and sired by the sprinter Godswalk. He was the second foal of his dam Nadwa, who won two minor races as a two-year-old in 1978. Like Nadwa, Provideo was trained throughout his career by Bill O'Gorman. Provideo raced in blinkers from his fifth start onwards and usually won his races from the front. He was sent into training with O'Gorman at Newmarket, Suffolk and was ridden in most of his races by Tony Ives. In the autumn of 1983 it had been decided that the yearling would be taken to be sold at the Doncaster sales, but O'Gorman was unable to travel having been kicked by another horse, and he decided instead to train the colt for racing. Racing career Provideo began his racing career with a four length win in the Brocklesby Stakes at Doncaster Racecourse in March. In the next three months he added a further eight wins: three at Catterick, two at Beverley and one each at Ripon, Lingfield Park and Folkestone. He had finished second in his four defeats. Despite his consistency, Provideo had shown himself to be an aggressive horse ("a devil to manage") and on one occasion he hospitalised a stable lad who entered his box unexpectedly. He was also difficult to manage on race-days, often misbehaving in the preliminaries and having to be mounted on the racecourse rather than the paddock. In July he recorded his tenth win when taking the Cock of the North Stakes at Haydock Park in a three-way photo-finish. Provideo followed up two days later at Pontefract and before the end of the month he had won a minor race at Windsor and the Listed Star Stakes at Sandown Park.