never say die was a chestnut colt with a white blaze and three white feet, bred and raced by the american philanthropist and art collector robert sterling clark. at the time of his derby win, the horse stood 15.3 ½ hands high. he was conceived in ireland but foaled at jonabell farm in kentucky. his sire, nasrullah had been a talented but temperamental racehorse who was beginning to have an impact as a stallion. never say die's dam, singing grass won seven unimportant races in england. clark sent the colt to england as a yearling to be trained by joseph lawson, who had already won nine classics clark's other british trainer, harry peacock had been given first choice of the owner's yearlings but had rejected never say die because of his low opinion of nasrullah's stock.