Tudor Minstrel

Tudor Minstrel (1944–1971) was a British-bred Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. In a career which lasted from the spring of 1946 until September 1947 he ran ten times and won eight races. He was unbeaten in four races in 1946, a year in which he was the highest-rated two-year-old in Britain, despite ending his season in July. The following year he won the 2,000 Guineas, St. James's Palace Stakes and Knights Royal Stakes over one mile but was beaten in his two attempts at longer distances, most notably when starting odds-on favourite for the 1947 Epsom Derby. Background Tudor Minstrel was a handsome, powerfully built brown horse bred by his owner John Athur Dewar. Dewar inherited his thoroughbred racehorses from his uncle, the Scottish whisky distiller Thomas Dewar, 1st Baron Dewar. These horses included Lady Juror, who became a successful broodmare, producing Fair Trial and Sansonnet. Sansonnet in turn produced the Coronation Stakes winner Neolight before becoming the dam of Tudor Minstrel, who was sired by Owen Tudor, the 1941 Epsom Derby winner. Racing career 1946: two-year-old season Tudor Minstrel began his racing career by winning races at Bath and Salisbury in the spring of 1946. He was then sent to Royal Ascot where he won the Coventry Stakes by four lengths. In July he won the National Breeders Produce Stakes at Sandown Park by four lengths and was then retired for the season.