Multiple Group I Winner Crimplene To Be Bred to Danzig

Three-time group I winner Crimplene has been retired from racing to be bred to Danzig in the 2001 breeding season, according to the Racing Post. Trained by Clive Brittain, the Entenmanns Irish One Thousand Guineas (Ire-I) winner finished fourth in the Breeders' Cup Distaff (gr. I) in her final start.

"To my mind she was undoubtedly the best 3-year-old filly this year and her class really showed, over what I think was her best trip of a mile, in the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot," jockey Philip Robinson told the Racing Post. "Over a mile you could use her speed. She galloped the opposition into the ground, and was never happier than when in front. I don't really think she was a mile-and-a-quarter filly, and it was through sheer guts that she was able to win the Nassau. It's always a buzz to win a classic and she helped to make my season."

Crimplene (Lion Cavern--Crimson Conquest, by Diesis) won six of 16 career starts and earned $768,358. In addition to the Irish One Thousand Guineas, she also won the German One Thousand Guineas (Ger-II) a week after finishing third in the Italian One Thousand Guineas (Ity-II). Her other group I wins came following her victory in the Irish classic, when she won the Coronation Stakes (Eng-I) at Ascot prior to defeating Ela Athena in the Vodafone Nassau Stakes (Eng-I). After the Nassau win against older fillies and mares, she twice took on older males, finishing off the board in both the Prix du Haras de Fresnay-le-Buffard-Jacques le Marois (Fr-I) and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes (Eng-I).

"Crimplene was one of the toughest fillies I have trained, and ranks alongside Pebbles and Sayyedati as one of the best," Brittain told the Racing Post. "She was at her most impressive when winning the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot but, for me, the race where she showed the most determination was the Nassau Stakes at Goodwood, when she beat Ela Athena. She probably did not truly stay a mile and a quarter, but she just refused to be beaten that day."

Crimplene raced for her breeder, Sheikh Marwan Al Maktoum, in all her races except the Distaff, in which she raced in the colors of Darley Stud.