Ayrshire (horse)

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Ayrshire (1885–1910) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and later a sire. He raced from 1887 to 1889, running 16 times and winning 11 races. As a two-year-old he won five races, and in 1888 he became the leading British three-year-old after winning the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket and the Derby at Epsom. He tried to win the Triple Crown but finished sixth in the St Leger at Doncaster.

In 1889, as a four-year-old, Ayrshire won the Eclipse Stakes at Sandown and the Royal Stakes at Kempton, among other races, before being retired to stud at the end of the year. He had a modest but respectable career as a stallion, notably producing Oaks winners Airs and Graces and Our Lassie, as well as important broodmares Gas and Glare. One of his best sons may have been Bowling Brook, who won the Belmont Stakes and the Metropolitan Handicap in the United States. Ayrshire died in 1910.

Ayrshire was a bay stallion praised for his beauty and balance. He was bred by and owned by William Cavendish-Bentinck, 6th Duke of Portland, and trained by George Dawson at Heath House Stable in Newmarket. His sire was Hampton, and his dam was Atalanta.