OH SO SHARP, is the most recent winner of the Fillies Triple Crown, comprising the 1985 One Thousand Guineas, the Oaks and the St Leger.
Born on 1st January, 1982, Oh So Sharp was from the first crop of Kris, a top miler and winner of 14 of his 16 races, including the St James’s Palace Stakes, the Sussex Stakes and the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. Her dam, Oh So Fair was by Graustark.
An attractive chestnut filly, with powerful shoulders and a long raking stride, she was bred by Dalham Stud Farms Ltd, owned by Sheikh Mohammed and trained by Henry (later Sir) Cecil at Newmarket.
Oh So Sharp won her three races as a juvenile over six, seven and eight furlongs, culminating in the Hoover Fillies’ Mile, with Lester Piggott aboard, beating Helen Street and Morning Devotion.
The following year, after taking the Nell Gwyn and now ridden by Steve Cauthen (13), she got up in the last stride to win the One Thousand Guineas in a battle of short-heads, with Albahathri (2nd middle) and Bella Colora (3rd rails).
However, her progress on the home gallops led Cecil to consider running her in the Derby (she had been entered in all five Classics), until finally deciding to run in the Oaks, which she won by six lengths, clearing away from two furlongs out.
She then continued with two seconds – firstly in the ‘King George,’ when beaten a neck by Petoski, and then in the Benson & Hedges Gold Cup, as the 2-5 favourite, when succumbing to Lester Piggott on Commanche Run, by three-quarters of a length.
In her final run, the St Leger, she put things right, running on to beat Phardante and Lanfranco, to complete the Fillies’ Triple Crown, the first to do so since Meld in 1955.
At stud, she bred seven winners, including, Shaima (b.f. 1988), whose first foal, Shantou won the 1996 St Leger.
Oh So Sharp was put down in late October 2001, aged 19, due to complications from laminitis.
For more Racing History see Michael’s Books for Sale.