It is hard to believe that it was four decades ago that Dahlia won her second Benson & Hedges Gold Cup at York, the race that is now the Juddmonte International. It might even surprise you more to be reminded that the race was only inaugurated in 1972, when Roberto beat four opponents to land the prize for Ireland.

Roberto was owned by John Galbreath and trained by Vincent O’Brien who engaged the Panamanian-born jockey Braulio Baeza to ride the colt. Winner of two Eclipse awards and inducted into the US Racing Hall of Fame in 1976, Baeza had a short career in the saddle and his York victory was his only significant success outside the USA. He won the Kentucky Derby in 1963 on Chateaugay, the colt that provided him with the second of his three Belmont Stakes victories.

Back to Dahlia. Some of us are old enough to have seen her race in Ireland when she won the Irish Oaks in 1973. She raced for five seasons and ran no less than 46 times, winning 15 races. Incredibly, 11 of these were Group or Grade 1 events and another race she won twice was the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes, on the first occasion beating Roberto. She has the distinction of being rated a champion in Europe and the USA.

For all of her racing career she was owned by Nelson Bunker Hunt and for most of her career she was trained in France by Maurice Zilber. As a six-year-old she was sent to Charlie Whittingham to be trained in California and she won the Hollywood Invitational Handicap for him.

In spite of an arduous and long racing career, Dahlia went on to an equally illustrious career at stud. She is one of a small handful of mares ever to breed four Grade or Group 1 winners, and she also changed hands as an 18-year-old when selling as part of the Hunt dispersal for $1.1 million to Allen Paulson. For him she produced the Grade 1 winning filly Dahlia’s Dreamer and the Grade 2 Jersey Derby winning colt Llandaff.

Earlier at stud her offspring numbered Dahar, a four-time winner at the highest level in France and the USA; the triple Grade 1 winner Rivlia who went to become a Group 1 sire; and the Grade 1 winner Delegant. Another daughter of Dahlia was the stakes-placed Dahlia’s Image and she is the grandam of the Ascot Gold Cup winner Rite Of Passage.