Gimcrack (1760 – after 1777) was an English

thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in 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 ...

racehorse.

Background

Gimcrack was a small grey horse at 14.2

hands A hand is a prehensile, multi- fingered appendage located at the end of the forearm or forelimb of primates such as humans, chimpanzees, monkeys, and lemurs. A few other vertebrates such as the koala (which has two opposable thumbs on ea ...

sired by Cripple, a son of the

Godolphin Arabian The Godolphin Arabian (–1753), also known as the Godolphin Barb, was an Arabian horse who was one of three stallions that founded the modern Thoroughbred (the others were the Darley Arabian and the Byerley Turk). He was named after his best-kn ...

, his dam Miss Elliot was by (Grisewood's) Partner.

Racing career

Despite his small stature, Gimcrack was widely successful, winning 27 of his 36 races in a turf career spanning 7 seasons. Gimcrack won his last race in 1771, at age eleven, and he retired to the Grosvenor stud.

Stud record

Gimcrack sired the handy grey horse, Grey Robin who defeated Pot-8-os.Ahnert, Rainer L. (editor in chief), “Thoroughbred Breeding of the World”, Pozdun Publishing, Germany, 1970 His bloodline was more notable though in US horse racing than in Britain, via his son Medley. After his death he was buried at

Haughton Hall Haughton Hall is an early 18th-century country house situated at Haughton Lane, Shifnal, Shropshire, England now converted for use as a hotel. It is a Grade II* listed building. The de Haughton family owned land at Haughton under the Lord of t ...

in Shifnal, Shropshire. A brick and stone pillar marks his grave to the west of the old walled garden.

Legacy

Gimcrack is best known from the paintings of

George Stubbs George Stubbs (25 August 1724 – 10 July 1806) was an English painter, best known for his paintings of horses. Self-trained, Stubbs learnt his skills independently from other great artists of the 18th century such as Reynolds or Gainsborou ...

. The Gimcrack Club, in

York York is a cathedral city with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many hist ...

was founded in 1766 in his honour, and the

Gimcrack Stakes The Gimcrack Stakes is a Group 2 flat horse race in Great Britain open to two-year-old colts and geldings. It is run at York over a distance of 6 furlongs (1,207 metres), and it is scheduled to ...

, also at York, are therefore also named after the horse.

References

External links

''Gimcrack with John Pratt up on Newmarket Heath'' at the Fitwilliam Museum
1760 racehorse births Thoroughbred family 23 Racehorses bred in the Kingdom of Great Britain Racehorses trained in the Kingdom of Great Britain Godolphin Arabian sire line {{racehorse-stub