Hycilla (1941 – 1953) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare, who raced during World War II and was best known for winning the classic Oaks Stakes in 1944.
[1] Hycilla's dam, Priscilla Carter, who spent most of her breeding career at Woodward's Middleton Stud in Ireland, was an unraced daughter of Omar Khayyam the British-bred winner of the 1917 Kentucky Derby.
[7] Hycilla did not race again for three months before contesting the New St Leger, run at Newmarket in September in which she was matched against colts for the first time.
[9] On her final appearance of the season, Hycilla took on colts and older horses in the Champion Stakes over ten furlongs in October.
Ridden by William Nevett, a Private in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps, she started at odds of 10/1 and won comfortably from thirteen opponents.
In the substitute Coronation Cup at Newmarket she started 11/10 favourite and finished strongly to take third behind the colts Borealis and Ocean Swell in what was described as a "great race".
In their book A Century of Champions, based on a modified version of the Timeform system, John Randall and Tony Morris rated Hycilla a "superior" winner of the Oaks.