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Phalaris•Scapa Flow-Chaucer
A full brother to Fairway, Pharos was a very good horse winning 14 of 30 races. This was an unduly large number of starts for a top class English horse of Pharos' era. Pharos had just failed to win the English Derby and his connections left him in training in the hopes that he would win a race commiserate with his ability. Their patience was well rewarded because in the last start of his career Pharos was victorious in the Champion Stakes. This race, run at Newmarket in October, is a Group 1 race* this writer's opinion a good performance in this race forecasts an adaptability by a horse's descendants to the American style of race more so than any race in Europe. The Champion Stakes has often been the last race of a horse's career and at one and one•fourth mile is shorter than the more prevalent European distance of one and one• half miles. The ability to revert successfully to a shorter distance tends to indicate first class speed.
At stud first in England, Pharos spent much of his career in France. It was in this latter country that Pharos had his best success, as he sired Nearco and Pharis while there. Perhaps it is also worthy of note that Pharos sired EI Greco, the maternal grandsire of Ribot. As stated earlier Pharos was a full brother to Fairway. In no other instance in history have two brothers been so successful at racing and at stud and their influence so far reaching. Hal K. May, ELEMENTS OF SPEED _________________________________________________________________________ *Authorities representing major racing countries meet periodically to designate the most important races. Group 1 races are usually classics and top weight for age races. Designated Group II are races regarded as very important but sub•classic. Group III consists of other valuable and important races. A very small percentage of races are designated as Group Races.
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