Alphabet Soup (horse)

Alphabet Soup (foaled March 31, 1991, in Pennsylvania) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for setting a track record for 1¼ miles at Woodbine Racetrack when he won the 1996 Breeders' Cup Classic, defeating both the great Cigar and Preakness Stakes winner Louis Quatorze.

Alphabet Soup was bred by Southeast Associates, a group led by Roy S. Lerman, and purchased by Californian Georgia B. Ridder. He is a descendant of Nearco, and his damsire is U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee Arts and Letters. Purchased privately as a two-year-old by Georgia B. Ridder, Alphabet Soup was late in developing. Mrs. Ridder raced the colt in California, where he began to come into his own at the age of four, winning the 1995 Native Diver and Del Mar Breeders' Cup Handicaps. In 1996, en route to his triumph in that year's Breeders' Cup Classic, he won three important graded stakes races: the San Antonio Handicap, the Pat O'Brien Handicap, and the San Pasqual Handicap, in which he defeated Best Pal. He also crossed the wire first in the Goodwood Breeders' Cup Handicap but was disqualified and set back to third.

Alphabet Soup raced in 1997 at age six, his best effort coming in defense of the San Antonio Handicap when he finished second to Gentlemen.

Retired to stud duty, he stands at Adena Springs in Midway, Kentucky. Among his progeny is Our New Recruit, winner of the 2004 Dubai Golden Shaheen. He currently resides at Old Friends.

References

• YouTube video of Alphabet Soup's win in the 1996 Breeders Cup Classic
• Alphabet Soup's pedigree and partial racing stats