Condessa

Condessa raced eight times as a two-year-old in 1980 at distances ranging from five furlongs to one mile. She was beaten in her first four races before winning a maiden race over seven furlongs at Gowran Park. Later that season she won the Waterford Glass Nursery at the same course and finished fifth behind Blue Wind in the Silken Glider Stakes at Leopardstown Racecourse.[9]

Condessa began her second season by winning a minor handicap race over one and a half miles at Clonmel Racecourse in April. She was then sent to England and stepped up in class for the Group Three Lingfield Oaks Trial May and finished third behind Leap Lively and Allegretta. Four days later she started a 16/1 outsider for the Musidora Stakes over ten furlongs at York Racecourse in which her four rival included Fairy Footsteps, Madam Gay and the Nell Gwyn Stakes winner Miss Markey. Ridden by Declan Gillespie she appeared outpaced in the early stages and was in last place entering the straight but than began to make good progress. Apparently relishing the soft ground, she took the lead approaching the final furlong and drew away to win by four lengths from Madam Gay. Shortly after the race she was bought by the American Craig Singer for a fee reported to be in excess of $500,000. She was then made favourite for the Ribblesdale Stakes at Royal Ascot but ran poorly on firm ground and finished unplaced behind Strigida. When moved up to Group One level for the Irish Oaks at the Curragh Racecourse on 18 July she was not expected to be suited by the firm ground and started a 16/1 outsider but ran well to finish second of the ten runners behind the odds-on favourite Blue Wind. On her next appearance she failed to show her best form when fourth behind the colt Magesterial in the Blandford Stakes at the Curragh.[2]

Three days after her poor showing in the Blandford Stakes, Condessa returned to York for the Group One Yorkshire Oaks on 18 August. The joint-favourites were the Nassau Stakes winner Go Leasing and the Henry Cecil-trained Home on the Range, with Condessa next in the betting on 5/1 alongside her fellow Irish challenger Overplay. The other seven runners included Leap Lively and the Lancashire Oaks winner Rhein Bridge. As in the Musidora Stakes, Condessa looked outpaced in the early stages and was towards the rear of the field approaching the final turn. At this point, the outsider Silken Knot fell heavily, sustaining a fatal injury and throwing her jockey Willie Carson to the ground. In order to avoid the prostrate Carson, Gillespie was forced to pull Condessa to the wide outside, losing several lengths in the process. The filly began to make progress in the straight but was still only fifth behind Leap Lively, Fiesta Fun, Home on the Range and Overplay a furlong from the finish. Condessa produced a strong late run, took the lead fifty yards out, and won by a neck from Leap Lively.[2]

Condessa was beaten in her three remaining races in Europe: she finished third to Gilded Vanity and Countess Tully in the Brownstown Stakes at the Curragh in August, sixth behind Alma Ata when favourite for the Park Hill Stakes at Doncaster Racecourse in September and eighteenth of twenty-four behind Gold River in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp Racecourse on 4 October.[2]

In the late autumn of 1981 she was sent to race in North America where she was trained by Howard M. Tesher. She ran well when seventh of fourteen behind Open Call in the Rothman's International Stakes at Woodbine Racetrack in October but in her two subsequent races at Aqueduct Racecourse she failed to reproduce her European form, finishing tenth in the Long Island Handicap and eleventh in the Gallant Fox Handicap.[10]