Glenstal (horse)

Glenstal made his debut in a maiden race over six furlongs at the Curragh in July and won by a short head from the John Oxx-trained Najran. The form of the race was subsequently boosted when Najran ran third to Sweet Emma in the Group 1 Phoenix Stakes. In September the colt was stepped up in class for the Group 2 National Stakes over seven furlongs at the Curragh in which he was partnered by Vincent Rossiter, a veteran jockey who was by that time mainly employed as a work-rider at Ballydoyle. Glenstal was very much Vincent O'Brien's "second string", starting at odds of 14/1 whilst his stablemate Lomond went off the 2/7 favourite, with the best-fancied of the other seven runners being the Kevin Prendergast-trained Burslem. After tracking the leaders in the early stages, Glenstal made progress in the last quarter mile, went to the front inside the final furlong and won "a shade comfortably" by a length and a short head from Burslem and Lomond.[3]

In the official International Classification for 1982, Glenstal was rated the third-best juvenile colt in Ireland behind his stablemates Danzatore and Caerleon. The independent Timeform organisation gave him a rating of 112p (the "p" indicating that he was expected to make more than the usual improvement) making him 21 pounds inferior to their best two-year-old Diesis.[3]

On his first appearance of 1983, Glenstal was dropped back to sprint distances for a six furlong event at Phoenix Park Racecourse in April but went down by a head to Sir Prince John after what Timeform described as a "ding-dong battle".[2] He was sent to England in June for the St James's Palace Stakes at Royal Ascot but after becoming upset in the starting stalls he never looked likely to win and came home sixth of the seven runners. In the following month the colt was sent to France to contest the Prix Daphnis over 1400 metres at Evry Racecourse in what proved to be his final race. Ridden by Yves Saint-Martin, he led from the start, accelerated just after half-way and held off a late challenge from Luderic to win by a short neck.[2] He never raced again and was retired to stud at the end of the season.