Psidium

Psidium is a group of trees and shrubs in the myrtle family, described as a genus by Linnaeus in 1753. It is native to warmer parts of the Western Hemisphere (Mexico, Central and South America, the West Indies, Galápagos, and the southern United States).

Many of the species bear edible fruits, and for this reason several are cultivated commercially. Most important is the common guava, Psidium guajava.

Psidium (horse)

Psidium (foaled 1958) was an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a racing career that lasted from 1960 to 1961 Psidium ran eleven times and won twice. He is best known for his win, as a 66/1 outsider in the 1961 Epsom Derby. He later became a successful stallion.

Background

Psidium, a chestnut horse with a narrow white blaze, standing 16.1 hands high, was bred in Ireland by his owner Etti Plesch. His sire Pardal was a high class racehorse who won the Jockey Club Stakes and the Princess of Wales's Stakes. Psidium’s dam, the Italian mare Dinarella finished fourth in the Oaks d'Italia and also produced the Poule d'Essai des Poulains winner Thymus. Mme Plesch named all her horses after flowers with Psidium being named after the Guava Flower

Psidium was sent into training with Harry Wragg at his Abington Place stable at Newmarket, Suffolk.

Racing career

1960: two-year-old season

Psidium ran seven times as a two-year-old in 1960. He won the Duke of Edinburgh Stakes at Kempton and finished third in the Dewhurst Stakes at Newmarket and the Horris Hill Stakes at Newbury. In the Free Handicap, an assessment of the year’s best two-year-olds, Psidium was given a rating of 116lbs, seventeen pounds below the top weight Opaline.