Whenever discussions are held about the greatest ever broodmares, one name that is always mentioned is Plucky Liege, not surprisingly a daughter of Spearmint. Few broodmares can boast producing two sons who both were winners of the Sires’ Title in the US, while two others sired classic winners across Europe.
Plucky Liege was a daughter of Concertina, by the great sire St Simon. She had only one stakes winner which interestingly was a daughter of Carbine in Playaway who was sent to Australia where she won the VATC Futurity in 1904 and the VRC Newmarket the following year. Sadly, it would seem that no descendants of this mare are still in the Stud Book. Plucky Liege was the twelfth foal of her dam and bred by Lord Michelham in England. She actually started her racing career known only as “The Concertina Filly,” but was later named Lucky Liege which was further modified to Plucky Liege in honour of the French town that had put up strong resistance in WW1.
The filly won four of her six starts as a 2yo, all over five furlongs (1000m). While not a stakes winner, she nevertheless was allocated 117 pounds (53kg) on the Free Handicap to be the third highest ranked filly, only one pound behind Lady Josephine who was also to go on to become an outstanding broodmare. The filly failed to shape up as a 3yo though, in
