Grecian Queen

Grecian Queen (foaled in 1950) was an American Champion Thoroughbred racehorse. She was bred by Dallas, Texas businessman Ben Whitaker and raced under his wife's name. A consistently good and durable runner at age two and three, she won at distances from five and one half furlongs to a mile and three eighths.

Racing at 2

Trained by future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee Jimmy Conway, Grecian Queen made her racing debut as a 2-year-old at Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans with a fourth-place finish in a maiden special weight event. She went on to considerable success that year, winning the 1952 Demoiselle Stakes at a mile and a sixteenth,^[1] the six furlong Astarita Stakes,^[2] and the five and one half furlong Schuylerville Purse at racetracks in New York ^[3] as well as the mile and a sixteenth Marguerite Stakes at Pimlico Race Course.^[4] Grecian Queen finished behind Sweet Patootie in the balloting for 1952 American Champion Two-Year-Old Filly honors.

A Champion at 3

Grecian Queen was voted the American Champion Three-Year-Old Filly of 1953 ^[5] in a year in which she won seven of twelve starts with wins in major races for fillies such as the Prioress Stakes.^[6] Gazelle Stakes,^[7] New Castle Handicap ^[8] and Monmouth Oaks,^[9] At Belmont Park she won the mile and three-eighths Coaching Club American Oaks, at the time the most important race in the United States for three-year-old fillies that was often called the fillies derby.^[10]

Grecian Queen raced again at age four and five but could not win at the top levels with her best result a second-place finish in the 1954 Maskette Handicap at Saratoga Race Course in New York state.

Broodmare

Bred to stallions such as Royal Charger, Tudor Minstrel, Nashua, and Raise a Native, Grecian Queen's offspring had only limited success in racing.^[11]

References