Pebbles, the smashing chestnut filly that Tom Durkin dubbed “England’s Super Filly,” raced only once in North America, but what a race it was as she put on a scintillating display of speed, power, and determination when winning the 1985 Breeders’ Cup Turf.

Born in 1981, she was bred by Greek shipping magnate Marcos Lemos, who had invested a small fortune in his racing operation and would own her through her first seven starts before selling her to Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum.

Pebbles was sired by the Chef de Race stallion Sharpen Up, a son of American-bred stallion Atan (by Native Dancer who was injured after one start and was retired). Sharpen Up won five of his eight career races, including two stakes, the group one six-furlong Middle Park Stakes and the five-furlong group two Seaton Delaval Stakes. Known for siring shorter distance horses, Sharpen Up sired the outstanding milers, Kris, winner of nine stakes including the one-mile Sussex Stakes, and Selkirk, which won the group one Queen Elizabeth Stakes over group one winning filles Kooyonga and Shadayid.  Sharpen Up also sired the top stallion Diesis, who eventually sired England’s Halling, a five-time group one winner and conqueror of Singspiel in the ten-furlong Eclipse Stakes. Among Sharpen Up’s other progeny was the 1987 Arc de la Triomphe winner Trempolino.

Pebbles’ dam was the lightly race La Dolce, a daughter of Connaught, a major stakes winner in England in the 1960s with wins in the Prince of Wales Stakes twice, Great Voltigeur, King Edward VII, Coronation, Westbury, and the Eclipse Stakes, in that one defeating Karabas which won the 1969 Washington D. C. International over Hawaii and Czar Alexander.

Pebbles was not well thought of when she began her career. She lost her first start at two, a five-furlong Maiden sprint in which she finished 14^th at 33-1. Undeterred, trainer Clive Brittain brought her out nine days later to win the six-furlong minor Kingsclere Stakes at Newbury by four lengths at 12-1, and sixteen days after that she won the Childwick Stud Stakes at Newmarket by three lengths, this time at a more realistic 3-1.

Pebbles would race three more times in 1983, finishing fourth in the Group Two Lowther Stakes at York and fifth in the Group Three Waterford Candelabra Stakes at Goodwood, competing at her fifth different race track in her first five starts. This would also be the last time Pebbles would be worse than second in her remaining ten career races.

It was Pebbles’ final race in 1983 that made people take notice and prompted trainer Brittain to say that she had the potential to be one of the best fillies that he had ever trained. It was the six-furlong group one Cheveley Park Stakes at Newmarket, and Pebbles, though 33-1, battled right down to the wire before being held off by a neck by Desirable. She finished the year with two wins and a second-place finish in six starts. Other than the tenacity she showed in her determined drive to the wire in the Cheveley Park, there didn’t seem much to get excited about – but as we would see, the best was yet to come.

Pebbles made her 1984 debut on April 19th in the Nell Gwen Stakes at Newcastle, a seven-furlong sprint on the straight course, which was a prep for the three-year-old filly classic One Thousand Guineas. Off at a reasonable 7-1, she was forced to dig deep through the final furlong when an unheralded Leipzig took a run at her. Relentless in her desire to win, she held off Leipzig to score by a length, with Meis El-Reem, a future three-time stake winner, finishing third.

Trainer Brittain, who was encouraged when his prized filly finally showed her true form, then entered Pebbles in the One Thousand Guineas on May 3rd, a one-mile group one event on the Newmarket straight course in which she was sent off at 8-1 in the field of fifteen. In this one, she showed her class and won it by three lengths over Meis El-Reem.

When interviewed after the race, Pebbles’ fifty-year-old trainer Clive Brittain, who would win major stakes races in Britain, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Hong Kong, Japan, and the United States, was ecstatic. At the time, this was only his second win in a classic race, his first coming in the 1978 St. Leger with Julio Mariner. Brittain openly stated that Pebbles was the best filly he had ever trained, a bold statement that wasn’t so bold when he repeated it after retiring. He also said that despite running in races only up to a mile, he was confident that Pebbles would handle the longer classic distances. “She has the blood of Crepello and Connaught, which means she’s either no good or a champion.”  He firmly believed that she would become a champion.

With two races remaining in her 1984 campaign, both tough group ones against some of the best horses racing in England, Pebbles regressed a little but still managed to finish second in each, as the 5-2 favorite in the Coronation Stakes when she tracked the speed and lost by a length to the three-year-old Irish 1000 Guineas winning filly Katies, and by a neck to Palace Music, the sire of Cigar, in the ten-furlong Champion Stakes.

Now fully mature, Pebbles ran five times as a four-year-old in 1985. Her first starts were group twos, the Trusthouse Forte Mile, which she won by a length and a half, and the ten-furlong Prince of Wales, in which she finished second by a length and a half to Bob Back.

Pebbles then won her final three races, all group or grade ones. The first two were in England: the ten-furlong Eclipse by two lengths over the eventual 1985 Arc de la Triomphe winner, Rainbow Quest, and the ten-furlong Champion Stakes by three lengths over that year’s Epsom Derby winner Slip Anchor and Palace Music.

Pebbles arrived in America for her final career race, the twelve-furlong Breeders’ Cup Turf. Now at the top of her game and already having proved that she was one of the best fillies or mares in the world at ten-furlongs on turf, she would be trying the longer twelve-furlong distance for the first time. There might have been some doubters, but her trainer, Clive Brittain, was highly confident in her ability to handle the extra distance. Those in attendance at Aqueduct that day backed him up as they sent her off as the 2-1 favorite. What racing fans witnessed was Pebbles at her finest as she came from last place in the backstretch and won a thrilling stretch dual by a neck over Strawberry Road.

Pebbles retired at the end of her 1985 campaign, having made fifteen starts with an 8-4-0 record and earnings of $1,457,271. She was voted the 1985 American Female Turf Champion, 1985 Timeform Horse of the Year, 1985 British Champion Female, and the 1985 British Horse of the Year. She was also the first female to win the demanding Eclipse Stakes.

Pebbles did not do well as a broodmare. She had eleven foals, most by prominent sires, but did not pass her class on to any of them. She died in 2005.