Fiorente (26 February 2008 – 30 May 2023) was a

Thoroughbred racehorse The Thoroughbred is a horse breed developed for horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are considered " ...

bred in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

and trained in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. When racing in Europe, he showed high-class form, winning the

Princess of Wales's Stakes The Princess of Wales's Stakes is a Group races, Group 2 Flat racing, flat Horse racing, horse race in Great Britain open to Thoroughbred horses aged three years or older. It is run on the July Cour ...

in 2012. He had greater success when campaigned in Australia, winning the Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes and the

Melbourne Cup The Melbourne Cup is an annual Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race held in Melbourne, Australia, at the Flemington Racecourse. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and older, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club that forms part of the ...

in 2013. In 2014 he won the

St George Stakes The Peter Young Stakes, registered as the St George Stakes, is a Melbourne Racing Club Group races, Group 2 Thoroughbred horse race held under weight for age conditions over a distance of 1800 metres at Caulfield Racecourse, Caulfield racecourse, ...

and the

Australian Cup The Australian Cup is a Victoria Racing Club Group races, Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race for horses three years old and older, held under Weight for Age conditions, over a distance of 2000 metres, at Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne, Australi ...

Background

Fiorente was a brown horse bred in Ireland by the

County Meath County Meath ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...

-based

Ballymacoll Stud Ballymacoll Stud is a Thoroughbred stud farm of 300 acres in County Meath, Ireland. It is located in the townland of Ballymacoll, approximately two miles from the village of Dunboyne and four miles (6 km) from the town of Maynooth. Under t ...

. He was sired by

Monsun Monsun (4 March 1990 – 9 September 2012) was a bay Thoroughbred racehorse and stallion bred in Germany by Gestüt Isarland and owned by Baron Georg von Ullmann. Background Monsun was a son of Germany's first triple crown winner and champion ...

, who won the Europa Preis twice and became a successful breeding stallion, siring

Shirocco Shirocco (foaled 10 April 2001) is a German Thoroughbred racehorse. He was trained in his native Germany by Andreas Schütz up to the end of his three-year-old season before moving to French trainer André Fabre to race as a four and five ye ...

Manduro Manduro (March 9, 2002 – June 27, 2020) was a World Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. He was a multiple Group One winner in Germany. Background Sired by Monsun, he was out of the mare Mandellicht, a daughter of Northern Dancer's son Be My G ...

Estimate Estimation (or estimating) is the process of finding an estimate or approximation, which is a value that is usable for some purpose even if input data may be incomplete, uncertain, or unstable. The value is nonetheless usable because it is de ...

and

Stacelita Stacelita (foaled 17 April 2006) is a Thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse who was a French Classic Races, Classic winner while based in France and became an Eclipse Award winner when relocated to the United States. Background Stacelita is a da ...

Racing career

European career

Fiorente was originally trained by Sir Michael Stoute at

Newmarket, Suffolk Newmarket is a market town and civil parish in the West Suffolk (district), West Suffolk district of Suffolk, England, 14 miles west of Bury St Edmunds and 14 miles northeast of Cambridge. In 2021, it had a population of 16,772. It is a global ...

. Unraced as a two-year-old, he ran four times as a three-year-old in 2011. He won a

maiden race In horse racing, a maiden race is an event for horses that have not won a race. Horses that have not won a race are referred to as maidens. Maiden horse races are held over a variety of distances and under conditions with eligibility based on the s ...

Newbury Racecourse Newbury Racecourse is a racecourse and events venue in the civil parish of Greenham, adjoining the town of Newbury, Berkshire, Newbury in Berkshire, England. It has courses for flat races and over jumps. It hosts one of Great Britain's List of ...

and finished second in both the Group Two King Edward VII Stakes (beaten five lengths by

Nathaniel Nathaniel is an English variant of the biblical Hebrew name A name is a term used for identification by an external observer. They can identify a class or category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given context. ...

) and the Group Three Gordon Stakes. In the following year he ran five times, recording his most important victory in the Princess of Wales's Stakes at

Newmarket Racecourse Newmarket Racecourse is a British Thoroughbred horse racing venue in Newmarket, Suffolk, Newmarket, Suffolk, comprising two individual racecourses: the Rowley Mile and the July Course. Newmarket is often referred to as the headquarters of ...

in July.

Australian career

In the autumn of 2012 Fiorente was transferred to Australia to be trained by Gai Waterhouse. In the 2012 Melbourne Cup he ran second to Green Moon. Returning to racing in the autumn he ran once over 1400 metres in the

All Aged Stakes The All Aged Stakes is an Australian Turf Club Group 1 Thoroughbred Weight for Age horse race, run over a distance of 1,400 metres at Randwick Racecourse, Sydney, Australia in April or May during the ATC Autumn Carnival. Prize money is A$1,500 ...

, finishing third to

All Too Hard All Too Hard (foaled 21 September 2009) is a four time Group 1 winning Australian thoroughbred racehorse. He is also a successful breeding stallion having sired numerous stakes winners. Background Bred by Gilgai Farm, All Too Hard is a half b ...

. In the 2013 Spring carnival he won the Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes and then ran third behind

Shamus Award The Shamus Award is awarded by the Private Eye Writers of America (PWA) for the best detective fiction ( P. I. = Private investigator) genre novels and short stories A short story is a piece of prose fiction. It can typically be read in a sing ...

in the 2013

Cox Plate The W. S. Cox Plate is a Group races, Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race for horses aged three years old and over under Weight for age conditions, over a distance of 2040 metres (approximately 1m 2f), that is held by the Moonee Valley Racin ...

. He followed this by winning the 2013 Melbourne Cup, ridden by

Damien Oliver Damien Oliver (born 22 June 1972) is an Australian Retirement, retired thoroughbred racing jockey. Oliver comes from a racing family; his father Ray Oliver had a successful career until his death in a race fall during the 1975 Kalgoorlie Cup in ...

. On 8 March, Fiorente won the Australian Cup, beating Green Moon and Shamus Award at

weight-for-age {{use dmy dates, date=October 2022 Weight for Age (WFA) is a term in thoroughbred horse racing which is one of the conditions for a race. History The principle of WFA was developed by Admiral Rous, a handicapper with the English Jockey Club. Rou ...

. Fiorente then finished unplaced behind the

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

mare Silent Achiever in the

Ranvet Stakes The Ranvet Stakes is an Australian Turf Club Group 1 Weight for Age Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds and older over a distance of 2,000 metres, held at Rosehill Gardens Racecourse in Sydney, Australia in March. Total prize money is A$ ...

and third behind the same horse in The BMW. On 7 April it was announced that Fiorente had sustained a serious tendon injury and would be retired from racing.

Stud career

Fiorente stood at Sun Stud in

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

for a service fee of A$17,600. Fiorente died from chronic illness on 30 May 2023, at the age of 15.

Pedigree

* Fiorente is

inbred Inbreeding is the production of offspring from the mating or breeding of individuals or organisms that are closely related genetically. By analogy, the term is used in human reproduction, but more commonly refers to the genetic disorders an ...

4 × 4 to the stallion Danzig, meaning that Danzig appears twice in the fourth generation of his pedigree.

References

2008 racehorse births 2023 racehorse deaths Melbourne Cup winners Racehorses bred in Ireland Racehorses trained in the United Kingdom Racehorses trained in Australia Thoroughbred family 5-h {{racehorse-stub