Vale Miss Finland
Champion two and three-year-old filly Miss Finland, the winner of the 2006 Golden Slipper, Thousand Guineas and VRC Oaks, has died as the result of a chronic respiratory disease.
Arrowfield Stud, whose principal John Messara raced the star mare and retained her as a broodmare, confirmed the 22-year-old had been euthanised on veterinary advice.
Trained by David Hayes, she won 11 of her 26 starts. Five of her victories were at Group 1 level. Retired to stud in 2008, she would go on to leave 12 foals including Stay With Me who would emulate Miss Finland by winning the Thousand Guineas at three, nine years after her mother.
Miss Finland produced 12 foals before being pensioned from stud duties after the 2022 breeding season. Her last foal, a three-year-old daughter of Dundeel, is unraced for Messara and his racing partners.
Arrowfield also has Miss Finland’s daughters Miss Helsinki, Earth Angel, Stay With Me and Tuusula as part of its broodmare band in the Hunter Valley.
The stud will offer yearlings at the upcoming Inglis Easter sale from Miss Finland’s family: a Dundeel daughter of of Stay With Me, another Dundeel filly out of Earth Angel and a The Autumn Sun colt out of Tuudelu, herself a daughter of Tuusula.
