A tooth of the racehorse Petite Etoile.

A tooth of the racehorse Petite Etoile,

Provenance: The Ray Goddard Collection (lots 97 to 178). For further information on Ray Goddard and the collection see lot 144.

Petite Etolie was a grey filly foaled in 1956 by Petition out of Star of Iran (Bois Roussel). She was bred by the Aga Khan III and Prince Aly Khan, although the Aga Khan would never see her race passing away in 1957. She was sent to Noel Murless to be trained at Newmarket.

Following a reasonable two-year-old campaign Petite Etoile defied critics, who saw the filly competing in the sprinting ranks, by becoming the outstanding filly of 1959 winning all her six races at distances between 7f and 1m4f. This included a classic-double in the 1,000 Guineas and the Oaks. The other victories were in the Free Handicap, Sussex Stakes, Yorkshire Oaks and Champion Stakes. Petite Etoile stayed in training as a four-year-old and following the tragic death of Prince Aly Khan ownership passed to the Aga Khan IV. She recorded another major victory in the Coronation Cup before becoming a victim of the 1960 coughing epidemic that blighted British stable yards. The decision to keep Petite Etoile in training as a five-year-old was rewarded with a second Coronation Cup win and victories in the Coronation Stakes (now Brigadier Gerard Stakes), the Rous Memorial Stakes and the Scarborough Stakes.

At Stud, none of her foals achieved notability on the racecourse although through her daughter Zahra she is Aga Khan family foundation mare that would eventually produce the brilliant unbeaten filly Zarkava, a double-classic and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner.