Environment Friend (19 March 1988 – 28 February 2012) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire best known for his win in the 1991 running of the Eclipse Stakes, one of the United Kingdom's most important weight-for-age races.
[5] Environment Friend was reunited with Duffield at York Racecourse in May when he contested the Group Two Dante Stakes, a major trial race for The Derby.
He made "smooth" progress in the straight, took the lead just over a furlong from the finish, and drew clear to win by five lengths from Hailsham, a colt who won the Derby Italiano on his next appearance.
[6] On 5 June, Environment Friend started at odds of 11/1 in a field of thirteen runners for the 212th running of the Derby Stakes over one and a half miles at Epsom Downs Racecourse.
He ran at the insistence of his owner: Fanshawe had wanted to give the horse a confidence-boosting run against inferior opposition, while Duffield thought the decision to contest one of the year's most important weight-for-age races was "mad".
Environment Friend turned into the straight sixth place but then made progress under a hard ride from Duffield and joined the leader Stagecraft inside the last quarter mile.
[7] In August Environment Friend met Stagecraft again in the International Stakes at York in a field which also included the 1990 Derby winner Quest for Fame.
[8] Environment Friend ended his season in the Champion Stakes at Newmarket on 19 October, when he ran poorly and finished tenth of the twelve runners behind the French colt Tel Quel.
[9] From 1993, Gredley took the unusual step of standing Environment Friend as a breeding stallion in the early part of the season before returning him to training to compete as a racehorse: he later admitted that he regretted the decision.
[3] The horse produced his best performance of the season in June at Epsom when he finished third in a three-way photo-finish to the Coronation Cup, beaten a short-head and a head by Opera House and Apple Tree, but was promoted to second when the runner-up was disqualified.