Sterling (1868 – 26 March 1891) was a British racehorse and sire. While not particularly successful in terms of major wins, he was very highly regarded, being rated by his

jockey A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase (horse racing), steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used ...

Harry Custance as the equal of Thormanby.

Background

Sterling was 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 ...

horse bred and owned by the Graham family who owned the Yardley Stud near

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

. His dam, Whisper, was bred by Mr. R. Taylor and produced ten foals between 1866 and her death in 1882. Sterling was her third foal and one of six sired by Oxford. Whisper's other good racers included Playfair.

Racing career

Sterling won five races including the Liverpool Autumn Cup at

Aintree Racecourse Aintree Racecourse is a horse racing, racecourse in Aintree, Merseyside, England, near to Liverpool. The racecourse is the venue for the Grand National steeplechase (horse racing), steeplechase, which takes place annually in April over three da ...

. He also finished second to Bothwell in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket on 25 April 1871. In the autumn of 1871, the owner of the

Belmont Stakes The Belmont Stakes is an American Graded stakes race, Grade I stakes Thoroughbred racing, race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds run at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. It is run over the worldwide classic distance of . Colt (horseracing), Colt ...

winner Harry Bassett's owner issued a challenge to the owner of Sterling for a one and a half mile match race at level weights, to be run in the United States. Sterling's owner responded by offering to put up £12,000 to the American's £8,000, but only if the match took place in England. The race never materialised.

Stud career

Sterling was much more successful as a breeding stallion than he had been as a racehorse. Sterling died on 26 March 1891 at 23.

Pedigree

References

{{Reflist Racehorses bred in the United Kingdom Racehorses trained in the United Kingdom 1868 racehorse births 1891 racehorse deaths Thoroughbred family 12-a