Crucifix (horse)
Crucifix (1837–1857) was a British-bred Thoroughbred mare who never lost a race. In 1840 she won three Classics—the 1000 Guineas, the 2000 Guineas, and the Oaks—and she raced 12 times, winning all 12 for £10,287.
She was a bay filly, about 16 hands high, by Priam out of Octaviana (by Octavian). The breeder was George Stanhope, 6th Earl of Chesterfield. Crucifix was a sister to Chesterfield, who sired The Hero. Lord George Bentinck bought her as a foal with her dam for 65 guineas.
Crucifix had a wiry frame and a temperamental temperament. She won many stakes at two, including the Chesterfield Stakes, Lavant Stakes, July Stakes, Molecombe Stakes, Hopeful Stakes at Newmarket, Clearwell Stakes, and Prendergast Stakes, plus a walk-over in a Newmarket sweepstakes and a dead-heat with Gibraltar in the Criterion Stakes.
As a three-year-old she swept the Classics, taking the Two Thousand Guineas, One Thousand Guineas, and the Oaks. After the Oaks she pulled up lame and was retired with earnings of £10,287. She was the shortes odds winner of the 1,000 Guineas at 1/10 and the first horse to win both the 1,000 and 2,000 Guineas in the same year when the races were run only two days apart. In the Criterion dead-heat and the Oaks, she defeated the great Pocahontas.
Crucifix became the dam of influential sires, including Surplice, and her line produced many important horses such as Ajax and Double Life. She is the taproot of Thoroughbred Family 2-i and the 12th dam of Meld. Crucifix died in 1857 and was buried beside Bay Middleton at Days’ stables, Danebury, Hampshire. Her ownership changed hands several times, including sale to Edward Lloyd-Mostyn, 2nd Baron Mostyn, and later Henry Agar-Ellis, 3rd Viscount Clifden.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 05:24 (CET).