Irish Elegance  Irish Elegance (7 March 1915 – February 1940) was a British racehorse and sire. A non-Thoroughbred horse who excelled at sprint distances and carried big weights to victory in major handicap races, he has been described as Britain's "greatest handicapper and second best sprinter" of the 20th century. Irish Elegance was large, powerful, exceptionally good-looking chestnut with white socks on his hind legs bred by A Frogley and foaled on 7 March 1915. He was not a Thoroughbred: his damsire Clorane was descended from a "half-bred" mare whose ancestry was not recorded in the General Stud Book. His sire, Sir Archibald, won the New Stakes and finished second in the 2000 Guineas. His dam Sweet Clorane also produced Cloringo, a steeplechaser who won the National Hunt Chase Challenge Cup at Cheltenham in 1926. The colt was sent into training with Harry Cottrill who trained at Tarporley in Cheshire before moving south to Foxhill, Wiltshire in 1919. Irish Elegance was named after a variety of Tea rose. As a two-year-old, Irish Elegance did not race but showed considerable promise in training. He was bought for £2000 by Mr Thorburn, who later sold him for £9000 to the financier James White. In June 1918, Irish Elegance ran at Newmarket in the Cambridgeshire Hunt Cup, a wartime substitute race for Royal Ascot's Royal Hunt Cup, and won "in a canter" by two lengths in a time of 1:24.8. He then won the July Cup over six furlongs at Newmarket. In October he finished third of the twenty-two runners behind Zinovia and Dansellon in the Cambridgeshire Handicap, apparently failing to stay the nine furlong distance. On 14 June 1919, Irish Elegance won the Salford Borough Handicap by six lengths under a weight of 135 pounds. Four days later he carried 137 pounds in the Royal Hunt Cup against 25 opponents. The Royal Ascot meeting on 1919 was said to mark a "revival of pre-war splendour", with a record crowd which included King George V and Queen Mary. Irish Elegance started joint-favourite with the King's horse Jutland and won easily after leading from the start, setting a record for the highest weight ever carried to victory in the race.