Generous' win lands QIPCO Diamonds & Pearls Award
Each year, to mark QIPCO’s sponsorship of the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes, the winner of a vintage renewal is commemorated. To honour his illustrious achievements and record-breaking victory in the race 33 years ago, Generous became the latest recipient of the QIPCO Diamonds & Pearls Award, won last year by Lammtarra.
Trained by Paul Cole at Whatcombe in Oxfordshire, Generous raced in the colours of H R H Prince Fahd Salman after being bought at Goffs for 200,000 Irish guineas. He won on his racecourse debut at Ascot, quickly followed by a second-placed effort in the Coventry Stakes at Royal Ascot and would go on to record two more victories as a two-year-old, including when taking the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes at odds of 50/1.
His three-year-old career would showcase his true talents as a middle-distance maestro, winning the Derby at Epsom and then the Irish Derby in quick succession. However, it was the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes victory that proved just how remarkable a racehorse he was, becoming only the sixth horse to complete that treble.
Generous was the 4/6 favourite for Ascot’s 1991 renewal of the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes. Partnered by jockey Alan Munro, Generous won a fast-paced race by an impressive seven lengths which was the largest winning margin for the race at the time, despite being eased down approaching the line. The manner of his triumph cemented his status of being the best three-year-old in Europe that season, while the margin of victory has only been bettered once in the race’s 73-year history.
Generous won both the British and Irish Horse of the Year awards in 1991, as well as being the Timeform top-rated horse for the year with a rating of 139 – at the time, the joint-11th highest figure rating ever.
On what Generous meant to him, trainer Paul Cole said, “[Generous was] the most important thing that ever happened to me. How often do you get a horse like that?
“He won a lot of these races by six or seven lengths, could have been double that. He was a very talented horse. He rewarded us with his wonderful performances. I mean to draw clear in the Derby and those other races when he put the acceleration down, they were amazing, amazing performances.”
After a memorable and very successful career on the track, Generous retired to stand at Banstead Manor in Newmarket as a dual-purpose stallion. Generous stood in Japan in 1996, and in 1999 joined Westbury Stud in New Zealand to stand alongside leading stallion at the time, Faltaat. He finished his stallion career at Alfred Buller’s Scarvagh House Stud in Northern Ireland having sired 280 individual winners, including 31 stakes winners. He died in 2013 at the age of 25 and is remembered as one of the all-time greats.
Cole concluded, “He was Generous by name and generous by nature. It was an honour to have trained him and I’m very proud to have been associated with him.”
Watch the video to commemorate Generous' win by CLICKING HERE
