Plucky Liege (1912–1937) was a British

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are ...

racemare who produced eleven winners, including an Epsom Derby winner at the age of twenty-three and three British Classic race winners. The performances of these horses led to her becoming one of the most important broodmares of the 20th century. Foaled in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, Plucky Liege was bred by Lord Michelham. She was sired by

Spearmint Spearmint, also known as garden mint, common mint, lamb mint and mackerel mint, is a species of mint, ''Mentha spicata'' (, native to Europe and southern temperate Asia, extending from Ireland in the west to southern China in the east. It is nat ...

, a winner of the two major races in England and France at the time, the 1906 Epsom Derby and the

Grand Prix de Paris The Grand Prix de Paris is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Longchamp over a distance of 2,400 metres (about 1½ miles), and i ...

. Her dam, Concertina, was un-raced daughter of the leading sire, St. Simon who was one of the most successful sires in history. Concertina was the dam of nine winners, but none of them were top class racehorses. Plucky Liege had three crosses of Stockwell and four crosses of Touchstone in her pedigree.

Racing career

Plucky Liege was purchased by Jefferson Davis Cohn for whom she had thirteen race starts, winning four two-year-old races for earnings of £1,811.

Stud record

In 1930 she was exported to

Lower Normandy Lower Normandy (french: Basse-Normandie, ; nrf, Basse-Normaundie) is a former administrative region of France. On 1 January 2016, Lower and Upper Normandy merged becoming one region called Normandy. Geography The region included three departme ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

and retired to broodmare duty at Cohn's

Haras du Bois-Roussel Haras may refer to: * Al-Haras or the Haras, a bodyguard unit in service of caliphs during the Umayyad and the Abbasid caliphates * Haras Fyre (born 1953), an American songwriter, singer and multi-instrumentalist * Oleh Haras (Russian: Ол� ...

in Alençon, France. Here Plucky Liege produced twelve foals of which eleven were winners. According to ''Thoroughbred Heritage'', "nearly every major runner in the world today carries at least one strain of Plucky Liege." Plucky Liege produced the following important progeny: * Admiral Drake (1931) won French

, sired

Phil Drake Phil Drake (1952–1964) was a French Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a brief racing career which lasted from May to July 1955, Phil Drake ran five times and won three races, becoming the fifth and last horse to win both The Derby and ...

(Epsom Derby) *

Bois Roussel Bois Roussel (1935–1955) was a French-bred Thoroughbred champion horse racing, racehorse and a leading broodmare sire (horse), sire. He won the 1938 Epsom Derby on his second racecourse appearance. Background He was named for Haras du Bois-Rou ...

(b. 1935) - English Champion Three-Year-Old Colt, won the Epsom Derby, was

Leading broodmare sire in Great Britain & Ireland The list below shows the leading sire of broodmares in Great Britain and Ireland for each year since 1899. This is determined by the amount of prize money won during the year in Great Britain and Ireland by racehorses that were foaled by a daught ...

. Among others, he was the sire of

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...

and

Migoli Migoli (May 8, 1944 – July 11, 1963) was an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse bred and raced by the Aga Khan III. Trained in England by Frank Butters, Migoli's win in the 1948 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe was the first fo ...

. * Bull Dog (b. 1927) - Leading sire in North America (1943), Leading broodmare sire in North America (1953, 1954, 1956) * Diane de Poitiers who was her only non-winner, dam of winners in U.S.A * Marguerite de Valois (1919, four wins and dam of winners in France and U.S.A.); * Noble Lady (two wins); * Noor Jahan (three wins in France, dam and grandam of good winners); * Sir Gallahad III (b. 1920) - Leading sire in North America (1930, 1933, 1934, 1940),

Leading broodmare sire in North America The list below shows the leading Thoroughbred sire of broodmares in North America for each year since 1924. This is determined by the amount of prize money won during the year by racehorses which were foaled by a daughter of the sire. The most ...

, (1939, 1943–1952, 1955) . In October 1933, Jefferson Davis Cohn sold his racing operations, including Plucky Liege, to

Leon Volterra Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to: Places Europe * León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León * Province of León, Spain * Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again f ...

. In 1935, Plucky Liege had reached the mature age of twenty-three when foaling future Epsom Derby winner Bois Roussel. She died in 1937 at age twenty-fiv

Plucky Liege was recorded as French Star Mare, by Denis Craig in his book, ''Breeding Racehorses from Cluster Mares''.Craig, Dennis, ''Breeding Racehorses from Cluster Mares'', J A Allen, London, 1964, p. 136

Pedigree

References

{{Reflist
Full profile of Plucky Liege at ''Thoroughbred Heritage''

External links

1912 racehorse births 1937 racehorse deaths Racehorses bred in the United Kingdom Racehorses trained in the United Kingdom Thoroughbred family 16-a