Be My Guest (horse)

Be My Guest (1974–2004) was an American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse and Champion Sire in Britain. He was bred in Kentucky by Walter Haefner, a Swiss businessman and owner of Moyglare Stud Farm in Ireland. Sired by the great Northern Dancer, his dam was What a Treat, the 1965 American Champion Three-Year-Old Filly and a daughter of the 1947 2,000 Guineas Stakes winner, Tudor Minstrel.

Be My Guest was sold at the 1975 Goffs yearling sale for a then British and European record price of 127,000 guineas. His new owner, Diana Guest Manning, was the daughter of Frederick Guest and his wife Amy Phipps of the American Phipps family who have been major long-time figures in thoroughbred racing in the United States.

While Be My Guest was a good miler who won three Conditions races at age three in 1977 under trainer Vincent O'Brien, he is best remembered as one of the foundation sires responsible for turning Ireland's Coolmore Stud into one of the most important Thoroughbred breeders in the world. Syndicated for £800,000, during his career at stud, Be My Guest sired 78 stakes winners who were able to win at various distances and was the Leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland in 1982. In addition, Be My Guest's daughters produced more than 90 stakes winners. Some of his notable progeny were:

Sire:

• Assert (b. 1979) - won four Group One races at age three including the Irish and French Derbys;
• On the House (b. 1979) - won the 1982 G1 Classic, the 1,000 Guineas Stakes, and the G1 Sussex Stakes;
• Luth Enchantée (b. 1980) - a filly who beat her male counterparts in winning the Group Ones Prix du Moulin de Longchamp and Prix Jacques le Marois;
• Go and Go (b. 1987) - won the Belmont Stakes, the third and longest leg of the United States Triple Crown series;
• Pentire (b. 1992) - multiple conditions race winner including the 1995 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes, Irish Champion Stakes, and Eclipse Stakes.

Damsire:

• Rock of Gibraltar (1999) - won a world record seven consecutive Group One races
• Manduro (b. 2002) - No. 1 ranked horse in the World in 2007

Pensioned after the 2002 breeding season , Be My Guest died on February 19, 2004 at the age of thirty.

References

• Be My Guest's pedigree and partial racing stats
• February 24, 2004 Bloodhorse.com article titled Be My Guest, Sired 78 Stakes Winners, Dead at Age 30