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Pall Mall (1955–1978) was an Irish-bred, British-trainedThoroughbredracehorse andsire, best known for winning theclassic2000 Guineas in 1958. Owned and bred byQueen Elizabeth II, Pall Mall was one of the leading British two-year-olds of 1957, when he won theNew Stakes atRoyal Ascot and was placed in three other important races. In the following spring, he performed moderately in two trial races before creating a 20/1 upset by winning the 2000 Guineas. He later won the first two runnings of theLockinge Stakes before being retired to stud, where he had some success as a sire of winners.

Pall Mall was a dark-coated chestnut horse with a whiteblaze and three whitesocks^[1] bred in Ireland by his owner,Queen Elizabeth II. The colt was sent into training withCecil Boyd-Rochfort at his Freemason Lodge stable inNewmarket, Suffolk. Boyd-Rochfort trained the horses owned by British monarchs from 1943 until 1968.^[2]

Pall Mall was the only British classic winner sired by the 1950 2000 Guineas winnerPalestine, the best of whose other progeny included Green Banner (Irish 2,000 Guineas) and Palariva (King's Stand Stakes). Pall Mall's dam, Malapert, showed no ability as a racehorse and was bought on behalf ofKing George VI for 100guineas at the Newmarket sales in December 1949.^[3] A year before Pall Mall's birth, Malapert had produced Cheetah, a moderate racehorse but a good broodmare who became the grand-dam of the1000 Guineas winnerCaergwrle and theWills Mile winner St Chad.^[4]

Pall Mall's first racecourse appearance came in May 1957 when he won amaiden race atHaydock Park by fivelengths. A month later, he was moved up in class to contest the New Stakes over fivefurlongs atRoyal Ascot. Ridden by Harry Carr, he started at odds of6/1 and won by a length from Troubadour and Will Somers. A month after his Ascot win, he finished second to thefilly Abelia in theJuly Stakes atNewmarket and then ran third in theGimcrack Stakes atYork. He had been expected to win the latter race^[5] but was well beaten by Pheidippedes, a colt who had finished unplaced in the New Stakes. On his final appearance of the season, he was beaten a short head by Kelly in theChampagne Stakes atDoncaster. In the Free Handicap, a ranking of the best two-year-olds to race in Britain, Pall Mall was assigned 126pounds, seven pounds below the top-rated Major Portion.^[6]

In April 1958, Pall Mall began his three-year-old season by finishing fourth on soft ground behindAggressor in the 2000 Guineas Trial atKempton Park Racecourse, leading some observers to write him off as a sprinter with no classic prospects.^[7] Two weeks later, he won the Classic Trial Stakes atThirsk by a length. In the 2000 Guineas, run over the Rowley Mile course at Newmarket on 30 April, Pall Mall started a 20/1 outsider in a field of fourteen runners. He was ridden byDoug Smith as Harry Carr had elected to ride the stable's other runner,Bald Eagle, who was made 7/4 favourite.^[8] Pall Mall took the lead a furlong and a half from the finish and won by half a length from Major Portion (ridden by Smith's older brotherEph), with Nagami three lengths further back in third. The win was a first classic for Boyd-Rochfort and a second for the Queen, who missed the race through illness.^[9]

Carr resumed his association with Pall Mall in the inaugural running of the Lockinge Stakes atNewbury Racecourse a month later. The Guineas winner was made the 4/6 favourite and won easily. AtGoodwood in July met Major Portion again in theSussex Stakes and was beaten a length in his final race of the year.^[3]

As a four-year-old, Pall Mall won a second Lockinge Stakes, starting the 1/2 favourite and winning from the Scottish-trained three-year-old Rexequus (later to win that season'sCambridgeshire Handicap). At Royal Ascot, raced inhandicap company for the only time, when he was assigned top weight of 133 pounds in theRoyal Hunt Cup. He started 5/2 favourite and finished second of the twenty-three runners, beaten one and a half lengths by Faultless Speech, a four-year-old to whom he was conceding 20 pounds.^[10] At the Newmarket July meeting, Pall Mall won his last race by taking the Midsummer Stakes.^[3]

The independentTimeform organisation awarded Pall Mall a peak annual rating of 132.^[6] In their bookA Century of Champions, based on a modified version of the Timeform system, John Randall and Tony Morris rated Pall Mall an "average" winner of the 2000 Guineas.^[11]

Pall Mall had some success as a breeding stallion. The best of his offspring was probablyReform, foaled in 1964, whose wins included theChampion Stakes,Queen Elizabeth II Stakes,St James's Palace Stakes andSussex Stakes. He also siredSallust, who won the Sussex Stakes and thePrix du Moulin in 1972. His daughter Boulevard has had some influence as a broodmare, being the female-line ancestor ofStreet Cry,Shamardal, andNeo Universe. Pall Mall died in 1978.^[3]

• Pall Mall wasinbred 4 × 4 to The Tetrarch, meaning that this stallion appears twice in the fourth generation of his pedigree.

• 1955 racehorse births
• 1978 racehorse deaths
• Racehorses bred in Ireland
• Racehorses trained in the United Kingdom
• Thoroughbred family 7-d
• 2000 Guineas winners

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from April 2022