The old cowbag who possessed an electrifying brilliance

Foaled 12 February 1984
Pedigree Storm Bird - Nobiliare
Owner Sheikh Mohammed
Trainer Henry Cecil
Breeder Ashford Stud & Ronald Worswick
Main jockey Steve Cauthen
Career record Ten wins from 16 runs (four places)
Most famous for Charismatic champion and one of the best fillies trained by the master; beautiful grey coat
Fate at stud Only foal to race was a minor winner; grandam of South African champion Ipi Tombe

One of the abiding memories of Indian Skimmer is not of her striding out through the final furlong on the way to big-race success, but of her standing stock still on the Rowley Mile on a misty autumn afternoon, declining to canter to post before the Champion Stakes.

Indian Skimmer could be, in the words of her trainer Henry Cecil, a cowbag. On this occasion she was ably demonstrating that faculty, and it wasn't until Cecil himself came out to indulgently remonstrate with her that she consented to move. They walked a little way down the course together, Cecil not minding about the ruination of his Gucci loafers, Indian Skimmer not minding that she'd been coaxed into participating in the silly race after all. A few minutes later she came back alone, her rivals lost in the fog, the race won, the immovable object transformed into the irresistible force.