{{Short description|British-bred Thoroughbred racehorse}}
{{Infobox racehorse | horsename = Brendan's Cottage | image_name = | caption = | sire = Cottage | grandsire = [[Tracery (horse)|Tracery]] | dam = Brendan's Glory | damsire = St Brendan | sex = [[Gelding]] | foaled = 1930<ref name="pedigree">{{cite web|url=http://www.pedigreequery.com/brendans+cottage|title=Brendan's Cottage pedigree |publisher=Pedigree Online |date=2016-03-19 |accessdate=2016-03-19}}</ref> | country = United Kingdom | colour = [[Bay (horse)|Bay]] | breeder = | owner = Jean Smith-Bingham | trainer = [[George Beeby (horse racing)|George Beeby]] | record = | earnings = | race = [[Cheltenham Gold Cup]] (1939) |awards= |honours = |updated= }}
'''Brendan's Cottage''' (1930–1940) was a British [[Thoroughbred]] racehorse who won the 1939 [[Cheltenham Gold Cup]]. After beginning his career in [[flat racing]] he developed into a top-class [[Steeplechase (horse racing)|steeplechaser]] and won the Gold Cup by defeating the odds-on favourite [[Morse Code (horse)|Morse Code]]. He never won again and died a year later at the age of 10.
==Background== Brendan's Cottage was a bay gelding bred in the United Kingdom. He was sired by Cottage, an unsuccessful racehorse who became an outstanding National Hunt stallion.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=AS19390811.2.110&srpos=2&e=-------10--1----2Brendan%27s+Cottage--|title=Great Blood|date=11 August 1939|publisher=[[Auckland Star]]}}</ref> His other offspring included [[Cottage Rake]] and the Grand National winners [[Workman (horse)|Workman]], [[Lovely Cottage]] and [[Sheila's Cottage]]. Brendan's Cottage's dam Brendan's Glory, was distantly descended from the influential Irish broodmare Caprice.<ref name="tbl">{{cite web|url=http://www.bloodlines.net/TB/Families/Family22.htm|title=Belgrade Turk Mare - Family 22|publisher=Thoroughbred Bloodlines|accessdate=22 December 2014|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304001532/http://www.bloodlines.net/TB/Families/Family22.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref>
During his racing career, Brendan's Cottage was owned by Jean Smith-Bingham and trained by [[George Beeby (horse racing)|George Beeby]]. Beeby trained the horse at [[Melton Mowbray]] before moving to Hamilton House at [[Compton, Berkshire|Compton]] in [[Berkshire]].<ref name="Harman">{{cite book | last = Harman | first = Bob | title = The Ultimate Dream: The History of the Cheltenham Gold Cup| publisher=Mainstream Publishing | year = 2000| isbn = 1-84018-381-0}}</ref>
==Racing career== Brendan's Cottage began his racing career [[flat racing|on the flat]], winning as a two-year-old in 1932.<ref name="Harman"/> He later switched to steeplechasing and won at [[Aintree Racecourse]] in November 1937.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=NZH19380224.2.39.2&srpos=5&e=-------10--1----2Brendan%27s+Cottage--|title=Woodville Work: To beat the field|date=24 February 1938|publisher=[[New Zealand Herald]]}}</ref> He was entered in the [[1938 Grand National]] although he did not run in the race.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=CHP19380204.2.122&srpos=8&e=-------10--1----2Brendan%27s+Cottage--|title=Racing and Trotting: Liverpool Grand National|date=4 February 1938|publisher=[[The Press]]}}</ref>
On 9 March 1939 Brendan's Cottage, having run promisingly at [[Gatwick Racecourse]] on his previous start,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2507&dat=19390309&id=KklAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=j4UMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3548,1518479&hl=en|title=Morse Code for Cheltenham Gold Cup|date=9 March 1939|author=White and Gold|publisher=[[Glasgow Herald]]}}</ref> was one of five horses to contest the fourteenth running of the Cheltenham Gold Cup. [[Morse Code (horse)|Morse Code]] the winner of the race in 1938 was made the [[Fractional odds|4/7]] favourite ahead of Bel et Bon on 11/4 with Brendan's Cottage, ridden by George Owen, third choice in the betting on 8/1.<ref name="Breedon">{{cite book|last1=Abelson|first1=Edward|last2=Tyrrel|first2=John| title=The Breedon Book of Horse Racing Records|publisher=Breedon Books Publishing |year=1993|isbn=978-1-873626-15-3}}</ref> The other two runners, L'Estaque (ridden by [[Harry Llewellyn]]) and Embarrassed were given little chance.<ref name="Harman"/> The race was run at a slow pace with the runners closely grouped until Brendan's Cottage and Morse Code broke away from their opponents on the second circuit. The favourite led until the last fence but was being hard ridden whilst Brendan's Cottage was traveling easily.<ref name="Harman"/> Brendan's Cottage took the lead at the final obstacle and drew away on the run-in to win by five lengths.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary-george-owen-1233473.html|title=Obituary: George Owen|author=Richard Griffiths|date=1 October 1997|work=[[The Independent]]}}</ref> In the [[1939 Grand National]] just over two weeks later Brendan's Cottage who carried 156 pounds and started at odds of 25/1. He looked to be in good condition before the race but fell at the first fence.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=NZH19390414.2.31&srpos=6&e=-------10--1----2Brendan%27s+Cottage--|title=Grand National|date=14 April 1939|publisher=New Zealand Herald}}</ref>
Brendan's Cottage sustained a serious leg injury in the following season and died in 1940.<ref name="Harman"/>
==Assessment and honours== In their book, ''A Century of Champions'', based on the [[Timeform]] rating system, John Randall and Tony Morris rated Brendan's Cottage a "poor" Gold Cup winner.<ref name="century">{{cite book|last1=Morris| first1=Tony|last2=Randall|first2=John|title=A Century of Champions|publisher= Portway Press|year=1999|isbn=9781901570151}}</ref>
==Pedigree== {{Pedigree |name = Brendan's Cottage (GB), bay gelding, 1930<ref name="pedigree"/> |f = Cottage (GB)<br />1918 |m = Brendan's Glory (IRE) <br />1915 |ff = [[Tracery (horse)|Tracery]] (USA)<br />1909 |fm = Casetta (GB)<br />1910 |mf = St Brendan (IRE)<br />1899 |mm = Strategy (IRE)<br />1899 |fff = [[Rock Sand]] |ffm = Topiary |fmf = Marco |fmm = Creme Simon |mff = Hackler |mfm = Court Card |mmf = Circassian |mmm = Policy |ffff = [[Sainfoin (horse)|Sainfoin]] |fffm = Roquebrune |ffmf = [[Orme (horse)|Orme]] |ffmm = [[Plaisanterie]] |fmff = [[Barcaldine (horse)|Barcaldine]] |fmfm = Novitiate |fmmf = [[St Simon (horse)|St Simon]] |fmmm = Settlement |mfff = [[Petrarch (horse)|Petrarch]] |mffm = Hackness |mfmf = Royal Hampton |mfmm = Bendlet |mmff = Camballo |mmfm = Lais |mmmf = Atheling |mmmm = Lady Pitt (Family: 22)<ref name="tbl"/> }}
== References == {{Reflist}}
{{Cheltenham Gold Cup winners}}
[[Category:1930 racehorse births]] [[Category:1940 racehorse deaths]] [[Category:Racehorses bred in the United Kingdom]] [[Category:Racehorses trained in the United Kingdom]] [[Category:Thoroughbred family 22]] [[Category:Cheltenham Gold Cup winners]] [[Category:Cheltenham Festival winners]] [[Category:National Hunt racehorses]]