How a horse named Potoooooooooo became a legend of British horse racing and immortalized a typo (6 photos)

In the 18th century, an amazing racehorse with the funny nickname Potoooooooo shone on British racetracks. This handsome fellow, the son of the undefeated champion Eclipse, not only inherited his father's talent, but also surpassed his fame.





Over the course of his seven-year career, he won 34 of 40 races, and most often took the unthinkable for racehorses distance of four miles - twice as long as the usual distances.



But Potoooooooo's real fame was brought not so much by his skill, but by the curious story with his nickname. Initially, Earl Willoughby Bertie called the stallion quite prosaically - Potatoes.





Eclipse - the champion's father

However, when an illiterate groom mistakenly wrote Pot with eight "o"s on the feeder, the aristocrat was so amused that he officially approved this ridiculous typo as a nickname. Later, for convenience, it was shortened to Pot8os, but the racehorse went down in history as Potoooooooo.



Owner Richard Grosvenor

After retiring in 1784, the champion went into stud service, siring 165 winners. His most famous descendant, a stallion named Wax (named after a variety of potato), continued the proud tradition, winning nine of his fifteen races.



After living an incredible 27 years for a racehorse, Potoooooooo died in 1800. Two centuries later, his skeleton was accidentally discovered under a fallen tree and now occupies a place of honor in the National Racing Museum - as a reminder that even the most ridiculous mistake can turn into a legend. After all, few of the great racehorses were honored with such a memorable nickname and such a long memory of descendants.



Potooooooooo's son also became a champion