Miss Andretti was the 2007

Australian Champion Racehorse of the Year The Australian Champion Racehorse of the Year is awarded to the Thoroughbred horse who is voted to be the champion horse within an Australian racing season. This award is open to all racehorses racing within Australia, regardless of age and sex, ...

and is the only

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...

in racing history to simultaneously hold a total of five track records in Australia and

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. In 2023, Miss Andretti was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame.

Breeding

She is a

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

or brown mare that was foaled on 12 August 2001 in

Western Australia Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...

. Miss Andretti was by Ihtiram (IRE) (he had 58 starts for 9 wins, 10 seconds, 5 thirds and $257,379) from Peggie’s Bid by the imported Sydney Cup winner Marooned (GB). Peggie’s Bid has produced seven named foals, but her only other stakes-winner was Danny Beau, by Zedrich who has had 14 starts for 9 wins, 1 second and $436,075. In 2010 Peggie's Bid foaled an unnamed bay or brown half sister to Miss Andretti by the Australian sire, Oratorio.

Racing career

David Mueller selected Miss Andretti from a group of seven weanlings at Ray Cochrane's property. Miss Andretti was originally trained in

(WA) by David Mueller who had her win nine races in WA, including the G2 WATC Winterbottom Stakes, WATC Prince of Wales Stakes and the WATC Ruabon Stakes, while under his care. Mueller, sold a 75 per cent share in Miss Andretti to Melbourne businessman, Sean Buckley and partner Gabriella Guenzi before she was transferred to trainer Lee Freedman. Her former trainer still continued attending her races, including the trip to England, and collected a percentage of prize money. In Melbourne she won in top company in 10 of her first 13 starts for trainer Lee Freedman. Amongst her major wins are the following G1 races: *2006 Manikato Stakes and Age Classic *2007 VRC Lightning Stakes, VRC

Newmarket Handicap The Newmarket Handicap is a Victoria Racing Club Group One, Group 1 Thoroughbred open handicap horse race over a distance of 1200 metres, at Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne, Australia on Super Saturday in March during the VRC Autumn Racing Carn ...

and MVRC Australia Stakes Miss Andretti’s other group wins were the 2006 G2 MRC Schillaci Stakes over 1,000 metres, G3 MVRC Ian McEwen Trophy and 2007 G2 Schweppes Stakes over 1,200 m. On 30 May 2007 Miss Andretti travelled to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

winning, and smashing the course record in the 2007

King's Stand Stakes The King Charles III Stakes (formerly the King's Stand Stakes) is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 5 fu ...

during the Royal Ascot meeting. The winner of the previous year, an Australian horse,

Takeover Target Takeover Target (27 September 1999 – 20 June 2015) was a much-travelled Australian Thoroughbred racehorse who won top sprinting races in each of the five major cities in Australia as well as in the United Kingdom, Japan, and Singapore. He ...

finished fourth. After this record win American and European syndicates made offers of up to $10 million for Miss Andretti, but they were rejected. On 26 Nov 2007 Miss Andretti was taken to Hong Kong after spending two weeks in quarantine in Melbourne, before departure. She started in the G1 Hong Kong International Sprint, which is run in a clockwise direction (the reverse of Melbourne racing), but could only finish tenth. After three weeks in Hong Kong Miss Andretti returned to Australia served another three weeks' quarantine in Melbourne. Freedman believed that future racing plans for Miss Andretti in the first half of 2008 were all but ruined by the quarantine protocols she served as part of racing in Hong Kong. Miss Andretti was retired from racing on 30 August 2008 after finishing last in a listed race at

Caulfield Racecourse Caulfield Racecourse is one of Melbourne, Australia's best-known horse-racing tracks. Commonly known as "The Heath" by local racegoers, It is home to the Melbourne Racing Club. Horse-racing started there in 1859 on a bush track where the Melbo ...

Race record

Stud record

At stud Miss Andretti initially missed (failed to conceive) to matings with

Redoute's Choice Redoute's Choice (15 August 1996 – 26 March 2019) was a multiple Group One-winning Australian Thoroughbred racehorse and also a Leading sire in Australia, champion sire. He is by the phenomenal international sire Danehill (horse), Danehill ( ...

and Fastnet Rock. On 1 September 2009 she foaled a chestnut colt by Exceed And Excel at Toolooganvale Stud in the

Hunter Region The Hunter Region, also commonly known as the Hunter Valley, Newcastle Region, or simply Hunter, spans the region in northern New South Wales, Australia, extending from approximately to north of Sydney. It contains the Hunter River (New Sout ...

. This colt by Exceed And Excel, was sold at the Gold Coast auction for $460,000 to her trainer Lee Freedman. Owner Sean Buckley took back part-ownership of the foal with hall of fame trainer Lee Freedman. The foal named Mr Villineuve, did not reach the race track. In 2010 she was in foal to Fastnet Rock. Her best performed progeny has been Mr Hamilton, a stallion by Nicconi born in 2014, who won 3 races and stake money of $61,000 in its career.

Honours

Miss Andretti was awarded the title of Australia’s champion racehorse in 2007 as well as the Williams Inglis & Son Champion Sprinter and the Sky Channel Most Popular Racehorse. She was inducted into the West Australian Racing Industry Hall Of Fame in 2012. A book on Miss Andretti's career was published in 2011. Princess: The Miss Andretti Story was written by former West Australian Trotting Association commentator John Hunt and published by Random House Books.

Pedigree

References

{{reflist 2001 racehorse births Thoroughbred family 8-i Racehorses bred in Australia Racehorses trained in Australia Australian Champion Racehorse of the Year