Fanfreluche (horse)

Fanfreluche was a bay mare bred in Canada. She was named by her French-Canadian owner Jean-Louis Levesque[1] for the title character of a popular children's television show on the French-language division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Successfully raced in Canada as a two-year-old, at age three Fanfreluche's performances in both Canada and the United States earned her the Sovereign Award for Canadian Horse of the Year.[1] Fanfreluche was voted American Champion Three-Year-Old Filly in 1970 by the Thoroughbred Racing Association. Office Queen won the rival Daily Racing Form poll[2] in the last year that champions were voted on separately.

In 1981 Fanfreluche was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.[3]

At the end of her three-year-old racing season, Fanfreluche was sold as a broodmare prospect to prominent American horseman Bertram R. Firestone for a then world-record price of $1.3 million. Bred to notable stallion Buckpasser, in 1972 she produced the two-time Canadian Horse of the Year and Hall of Fame inductee L'Enjoleur.[1] She also produced two other champions, La Voyageuse and Medaille d'Or. She has numerous stakes-winning descendants worldwide, including Encosta de Lago and Holy Roman Emperor.[4]

On June 25, 1977, while in foal to Secretariat, Fanfreluche was abducted from Claiborne Farm near Paris, Kentucky.[5] In December, five months after her disappearance, the FBI located her 158 miles south near the small town of Tompkinsville, not far from the Tennessee border. Fanfreluche was being kept by a family who said they had found her wandering along the country road.[5] Returned safely to Claiborne Farm, in the spring of 1978 Fanfreluche gave birth to her foal, a colt given the French language name "Sain Et Sauf", which in English translates as Safe And Sound.

A few years later, on February 8, 1983, the Irish racehorse Shergar was also the victim of a kidnapping but unlike Fanfreluche, Shergar was never found.

Fanfreluche died on July 29, 1999, of old age and was buried at Big Sink Farm in Midway, Kentucky.

• Fanfreluche's pedigree and stats