Dibidale

Dibidale (6 April 1971 – August 1975) was an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. After one minor win in two races as a two-year-old, she emerged as arguably the best filly of her generation in the following year. She won the Cheshire Oaks by seven lengths and appeared a most unlucky loser when her saddle slipped in the closing stages of the Epsom. She then won the Irish Oaks by five lengths, beating the first three in the Epsom race and added a win in the Yorkshire Oaks before her season was ended by injury. She failed to win as a four-year-old and sustained a fatal injury in the Geoffrey Freer Stakes in August.

Background

Dibidale was a "strong, shapely, attractive" chestnut filly with a narrow white blaze bred in Ireland by Robert Sangster's Swettenham stud. She was probably the best horse sired by Aggressor who won the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes in 1960. Dibidale's dam Priddy Maid, who stood only fifteen hands high, won four races and finished second in the Galtres Stakes. Her other foals included Shellshock, who finished third to Waterloo and Jacinth in the 1000 Guineas and Cracaval who won the Chester Vase and defeated Ile de Bourbon in the September Stakes. Priddy Maid was a half-sister of Severn Bridge the dam of the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Tony Bin and, as a descendent of the broodmare Calluna, was related to many other major winners including Viva Pataca, Bolkonski, Vitiges and Athens Wood.