Sonic Lady

Sonic Lady was a bay mare with a small white star. bred in Kentucky by J. Allan McTier. She was sired by the disqualified 2000 Guineas winner Nureyev out of the Child Stakes winner Stumped. Apart from Sonic Lady, Nureyev was the sire of the winners of at least forty-five Group One/Grade I including Peintre Celebre, Spinning World, Zilzal, Stravinsky and Miesque. His career as a stallion has been described as "outstanding". Sonic Lady was not, technically a Thoroughbred as her female ancestry could not be traced to one of the foundation mares of the breed. She was a product of the half-bred Verdict family, whose ancestry could be traced no further back than an unnamed Perion mare foaled in 1837. So many non-thoroughbreds from this family won major races that the descendants of the Perion mare were admitted to the General Stud Book in 1969 as Half-Bred Family 3. Members of this family include Quashed, Attraction and Sonic Lady's great-grandmother Lucasland, the winner of the July Cup in 1966 As a yearling, Sonic Lady was consigned to the Fasig-Tipton Sales, where she was bought for $500,000 by Sheikh Mohammed. The filly was sent to England where she was trained by Michael Stoute at Newmarket, Suffolk. ==Racing career==

1985: two-year-old season Before Sonic Lady appeared on the racecourse she had acquired a reputation as the best filly in Stoute's stable and had been supported in the betting for the 1000 Guineas. She made her debut in the Blue Seal Stakes over six furlongs at Ascot Racecourse in September. Sonic Lady accelerated clear of her eight opponents in the final quarter mile and won by seven lengths from Warm Welcome despite drifting to the right in the closing stages. Despite never having contested a Group race she ended the year as the 3/1 favourite for the 1000 Guineas. She was traveling easily throughout the race and pulled clear of the field in the closing stages to win by three lengths from Lady Sophie, with the Cheveley Park Stakes winner Embla in fourth place. Her reappearance was the front-page story on the first edition of the newly founded Racing Post: the rival Sporting Life's front page had featured Embla. On 1 May Sonic Lady started the 6/4 favourite for the 173rd running of the 1000 Guineas over the Rowley Mile course at Newmarket. Swinburn opted to ride Sonic Lady in preference to her stable companion Maysoon who had won the Fred Darling Stakes at Newbury. She became unsettled in the preliminaries and arrived at the start in an agitated state. She took the lead approaching the final quarter mile but was overtaken in the closing stages and finished third, beaten three quarters of a length and a head by Midway Lady and Maysoon. For Sonic Lady's next race, the Irish 1000 Guineas at the Curragh on 24 May she was equipped with a new bridle incorporating a rubber noseband, which was designed to help her settle. Her participation in the race was in doubt as she arrived without her equine passport but she was allowed to run after a copy was faxed from Newmarket. She started 4/1 joint favourite with the Poule d'Essai des Pouliches winner Baiser Vole and won easily by two lengths. Summer At Royal Ascot in June Sonic Lady started the 8/15 favourite for the Coronation Stakes (then a Group Two race) and won impressively Three weeks later she was matched against the leading three-year-old filly Forest Flower in the Child Stakes at Newmarket. The early pace was very slow and Swinburn opted to send the filly into the lead after two furlongs. In the closing stages she held off the sustained challenge of the Aga Khan's filly Shaikiya to win by a head with Forest Flower ten and a half lengths back in fourth. Sonic Lady did not race again until 26 September, when she finished third behind Milligram and Miesque in the Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Ascot. In November, the filly was sent to California for her second attempt at the Breeders Cup Mile, with the Panamanian jockey Laffit Pincay replacing Swinburn. Racing on medication, including Lasix and Bute, she started the 2.9/1 favourite, but had no answer to the finishing speed of Miesque and finished third of the fourteen runners. ==Assessment==

In 1985, the Independent Timeform organisation gave Sonic Lady a rating of 109p, the "p" indicating that she was likely to improve. In the following year she was given a Timeform rating of 129, placing her alongside the Prix Vermeille winner Darara as the highest-rated three-year-old filly of the season. In the official International Classification she was given a rating of 127, a pound ahead of Darara and the Prix de Diane winner Lacovia, making her the top-rated European three-year-old filly. In the 1987 International Classification, Sonic Lady was rated on 123 level with Asteroid Field as the best older female racehorse in Europe in the 7 furlongs plus division: Timeform gave her a rating of 125. ==Stud record==

Sonic Lady was retired from racing to become a broodmare for her owner's Darley Stud. She produced two Group race winners, both sired by Blushing Groom: • Hazaam, bay colt, foaled 1989, won eight races including the Supreme Stakes • Sharman, bay colt, 1990, won Prix de La Jonchere Through her daughter Soninke, who was exported to Japan, she was also the great-grand-dam of Logi Universe, Deirdre and Northern River, and great-great-grand-dam Songline and Panja Tower. Sonic Lady died after a paddock accident in February 1996. ==Pedigree==