PAWNEESE was one of the best racemares of her generation, though after two defeats as a juvenile it might have been hard to predict how good she would become. At three years she ran up a sequence of six wins, including a pair of classics, and she was trained by Angel Penna for Daniel Wildenstein.

She won the Prix de Diane (French Oaks) and the Epsom Oaks, while in England she defeated Bruni and Orange Bay in the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes in 1976. In all she raced 10 times and her six victories earned her the accolade of champion filly in Europe at three.

Sadly she was not such a successful broodmare, despite keeping the best of company in terms of stallions she visited.

She did leave one enduring line through her Sadler’s Wells daughter Poughkeepsie, a minor winner in France but the dam of nine winners from just 10 runners. These included a pair of listed winners, one of them being the juvenile scorer Parisienne.

Only two of Parisienne’s eight foals ever made it to the racecourse and both were winners in Turkey. One of her unraced daughters was the Peintre Celebre mare Patineuse and she has revived the flagging fortunes of the family somewhat by producing the Melbourne Cup winner Protectionist. That son of Monsun finally won a Group 1 in his native Germany at the weekend when he captured the Grosser Preis von Berlin.

This was the six-year-old’s eighth win and he has amassed some €2.7 million in prize money. Ranked the champion stayer in Australia, he was one of the best of his generation in Germany but sadly had to bypass the German Derby in 2013.