TRIBUTES TO A PRINCESS
HEARTBROKEN owner John Fairley paid tribute to “the horse you dream of owning” after the death of four-time Group 1 heroine Highfield Princess on Saturday.
Fairley and jointtrainers John and Sean Quinn had planned to campaign Highfield
Princess, who rose from a lowly British Horseracing Authority rating of 57 to lift Deauville’s Prix Maurice de Gheest, the Nunthorpe Stakes at York, and the Flying Five Stakes at the Curragh in 2022 – she then secured victory in the Prix de l’abbaye de Longchamp last
October – as a seven-year-old this season.
But 11 days ago connections announced that Night Of Thunder’s daughter had run her last race following an accident in her stable at the Quinns’ North Yorkshire yard.
It had been hoped the 14-time winner would make a recovery to take up duties as a broodmare.
John Quinn reported yesterday: “She suffered an inoperable fracture following an accident in her stable and although over the past week she fought with the same extraordinary spirit she showed on the racecourse, last night she lost her battle for life.
“Highfield Princess took us all on the most remarkable journey. We will miss her more than words can say.”
Former Channel 4 Racing boss Fairley (left), who purchased Highfield Princess in utero when he paid 18,000 guineas for the in-foal mare Pure Illusion in 2016, said: “We are all heartbroken.
“She was the horse you dream of breeding and owning,” he said.
“Highfield Princess was the pride of Yorkshire, a superstar on the racecourse and adored by so many, for her irrepressible spurt at home and on the racecourse.”