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Birmingham (foaled 1827) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire best known for winning the classic St Leger Stakes in 1830. A cheaply bought foal, who almost died before he ever appeared on a racecourse, Birmingham developed into a "celebrated racer"〔 finishing first in twenty-four races from thirty-nine starts between July 1829 and June 1833. At a time when British horse racing was centred on a small number of major racecourses, Birmingham was campaigned at relatively minor courses in the English Midlands before defeating the Epsom Derby winner Priam to record a 15/1 upset in the St Leger. Birmingham remained in training for a further three seasons after his classic success, winning four times in 1831, six times in 1832, and once in 1833. At the end of his racing career, Birmingham was sold and exported to Russia, where he had limited success as a sire of winners. ==Background== Birmingham was a large, powerful brown horse standing between 16.2 and 17.0 hands, bred by Mr Lacy. As a foal, he was sold for 45 guineas to William Beardsworth, who built up a reputation in the early 1830s for winning important races with cheaply bought horses. The horse was named after Beardsworth's home town of Birmingham. Birmingham was sired by Filho da Puta, a horse who won the St Leger in 1815 before becoming a successful breeding stallion. He was the Leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland in 1828, although Birmingham was his only classic winner. His dam, Miss Craigie, had previously produced Hedgeford, a horse who had some success as a sire of winners in the United States.〔 Before he was sent into full training with Thomas Flintoff (or Flintoft), Birmingham sustained a serious injury and was ordered to be destroyed but Beardsworth's wife pleaded for the horse's life and tended to him during his recovery. Birmingham grew up to be an unusually gentle and affectionate horse, becoming particularly attached to Mrs Beardsworth, who regarded him as her pet. In the early part of the nineteenth century the most important centre for horse racing in England was Newmarket in Suffolk. The other major racecourses in the south were Epsom and Ascot while racing in northern England usually focused on the racecourses at York and Doncaster in Yorkshire.〔 Birmingham's racing career was unusual in that his owner and trainer avoided these courses (apart from three visits to Doncaster's St Leger meeting), campaigning instead at less well-known meetings in the Western Midlands and the North West. Many of the courses he competed at, such as those at Knutsford, Lichfield and Holywell have been closed for many years, whilst others such as Ludlow and Liverpool no longer stage flat racing. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Birmingham (horse)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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