[4] She was the dam of Sansovino's full sister Ferry (1000 Guineas) and the direct, female-line ancestor of such notable thoroughbreds as Hyperion, Sickle, Pharamond, Big Game and Snow Knight.
[5] Sansovino was trained throughout his career by Lord Derby's private trainer George Lambton at the Stanley House stable at Newmarket, Suffolk.
He finished only third but did little wrong in being beaten a head and a neck by the top-class colts Hurstwood and Salmon-Trout[9] after being unsuited by the slow pace and having been badly hampered in the closing stages.
The official weight-for-age scale suggests that a three-year-old should be receiving around fifteen pounds from a four-year-old at this point in the season, so the performance was extremely impressive.
[10] Indeed, according to one story, one of the riders of the beaten horses rushed home, pawned his wife's jewellery, and wagered the money raised on Sansovino for the Derby before the bookmakers learned of the outcome of the trial.
The resulting "white button" was preserved in all subsequent editions of the colours[15] seen most recently being carried by the Breeders' Cup winner Ouija Board.
[16] Two weeks after the Derby, Sansovino was sent to Royal Ascot where he won the Prince of Wales's Stakes, beating St Germans "in good style".
The colt was prepared for the St Leger but contracted a respiratory infection that spread among British racehorses in the autumn which left him coughing and disrupted his training.
[4] Sansovino was unable to reproduce his mid-season form and finished unplaced behind Salmon-Trout, although The Times, pointing out that he looked well short of peak condition, felt that he was "not disgraced".
[19] Sansovino's four-year-old season began promisingly as he beat the 2000 Guineas winner Diophon over a mile in the Spring Stakes at Lingfield but in his remaining races, he was disappointing.