Forest Flower (horse)

Forest Flower was a chestnut mare with a white blaze bred in Virginia by her owner Paul Mellon. She was an unusually small Thoroughbred standing 14.3 hands high. Forest Flower was one of the first crop of foals sired by Green Forest, a Kentucky-bred, French-trained horse whose wins included the Prix Morny, Grand Critérium, Prix de la Salamandre and Prix du Moulin. Her dam Leap Lively, also bred and owned by Mellon, won the Fillies' Mile in 1980 and finished third to Blue Wind in the following year's Epsom Oaks. Leap Lively also produced Scoop the Gold, the dam of the Blue Grass Stakes winner High Yield. Forest Flower was sent to race in England where she was trained by Ian Balding at Kingsclere. ==Racing career==

1986: two-year-old season Forest Flower began her racing career by winning a race over five furlongs at Newbury Racecourse in May. She was then moved up in class for the Group Three Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot on June. She started the 9/4 joint-favourite in a field of thirteen fillies and "sprinted clear" to win impressively by three lengths. In July she was required to carry two pounds more than the Minstrella, who had won the Chesham Stakes at Royal Ascot, in the Cherry Hinton Stakes over six furlongs at Newmarket Racecourse. Ridden by Tony Ives, Forest Flower was headed by the Irish filly, but fought back to win by three-quarters of a length, with the first two pulling seven lengths clear of the other runners. Forest Flower and Minstrella met again, this time at level weights, in the Group One Phoenix Stakes at Phoenix Park Racecourse in August. Ridden by Pat Eddery, Forest Flower finished strongly, but failed to overtake her rival and was beaten a short head. After a six-week break, Forest Flower ran in the Group Two Mill Reef Stakes (a race named after her owner's most famous horse) at Newbury. Ridden by Ives, she started the 4/7 favourite against eight colts and became the first filly to win the race, beating Shady Heights comfortably by half a length. Forest Flower's final race of the season saw her face Minstrella for the third time in the Group One Cheveley Park Stakes at Newmarket on 1 October. The race proved to be a highly controversial one. Forest Flower seemed to be boxed in two furlongs from the finish, and Ives, in extricating the filly from her unfavourable position, bumped into Minstrella, hampering the other filly. Having obtained a clear run, Forest Flower quickly took the lead and won convincingly by two and a half lengths from Minstrella. John Reid, the rider of Minstrella, immediately lodged an objection, but the racecourse stewards ruled that the interference had been accidental and left the result unaltered. Minstrella's connections then took their case to the disciplinary committee of the Jockey Club, who overturned the original decision, ruling that the interference had been intentional. Forest Flower was disqualified and place last, while Ives was given a twelve-day riding ban. Timeform described the decision as "inequitable" and "unjust", but pointed out that the committee had acted correctly according to the rules of racing. to catch Milligram in the final strides to win by a short head. She reappeared at Newmarket in July, when she was matched against Sonic Lady, the outstanding British miler of 1986 in the Child Stakes. Forest Flower was strongly fancied for the race, ==Assessment==

Forest Flower was rated the best of an unusually strong group of juvenile fillies in 1986. Timeform rated her on 127, ahead of Miesque (124), Milligram (122) and Minstrella (121). They described her as "indomitable of spirit and wonderfully game and genuine". ==Stud record==

Forest Flower was retired from racing to become a broodmare for her owner's stud. In 1992 she was sold for $671,000 to Betty Moran and moved to her new owner's Brushwood Farm in Pennsylvania. She had modest success as a broodmare, producing at least three minor winners from seven known foals: • Hill of Dreams (bay colt, foaled 1990, sired by Shirley Heights), won four races • Hertford Castle (bay filly, foaled 1991, sired by Reference Point), great grandam of Night of Thunder • Flaming Feather (bay colt, foaled 1993, sired by Shirley Heights), won one race • Flower Arch (chestnut filly, foaled 1994, sired by Nashwan) • Al Naba (chestnut colt, foaled 1996, sired by Mr. Prospector), won two races • Eishin Dunkirk (chestnut colt, foaled 1997, sired by Mr. Prospector) • Paulette (bay filly, foaled 1999, sired by Deputy Minister) Forest Flower was retired from breeding in 2002 and was euthanised at Brushwood Farm on 10 February 2011 at the age of twenty-seven. ==Pedigree==