Salsabil (horse)

Salsabil
Racing colours of Hamdan Al Maktoum
Sire	Sadler's Wells
Grandsire	Northern Dancer
Dam	Flame of Tara
Damsire	Artaius
Sex	Mare
Foaled	18 January 1987
Country	Ireland
Colour	Bay
Breeder	Kilcarn Stud
Owner	Hamdan Al Maktoum
Trainer	John Dunlop
Record	9: 7-1-0
Earnings	£743,461
Major wins
Prix Marcel Boussac (1989) Fred Darling Stakes (1990) 1000 Guineas (1990) Epsom Oaks (1990) Irish Derby (1990) Prix Vermeille (1990)
Honours
Timeform rating 130

Salsabil (18 January 1987 – October 1996) was an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. In a racing career which lasted from September 1989 to October 1990 she ran nine times and won seven races. Salsabil was one of the leading two-year-old fillies in Europe in 1989, winning two races including the Group One Prix Marcel Boussac at the Longchamp. After winning the Fred Darling Stakes on her three-year-old debut, Salsabil won both of Britain's Classic races for fillies: the 1000 Guineas over one mile at Newmarket and the Oaks over one and a half miles at Epsom. She was then raced against colts and became the first filly for ninety years to win the Irish Derby at the Curragh. In autumn, Salsabil added a victory in the Prix Vermeille at Longchamp but finished unplaced when favourite for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe in October. Salsabil was then retired to stud where she had success as a broodmare before dying of cancer in 1996.

Salsabil was a bay filly with a white blaze bred in County Meath, Ireland by the Kilcarn Stud. Salsabil was one of the first champions sired by Sadler's Wells and her earnings in 1990 enabled the stallion to win the first of his thirteen sires' championships. Salsabil's dam, Flame of Tara, won the Coronation Stakes in 1983, and went on to be an extremely successful broodmare. Apart from Salsabil, she produced eleven winners including Marju, a colt who won the St. James's Palace Stakes and finished second in the Epsom Derby. As a descendant of the broodmare Aloe, Flame of Tara was related to Pebbles, Round Table, Nashwan, Go For Wand and many other successful racehorses.