'I was so obviously foreign, so exotic, that nobody could quite pigeonhole me'

It has been quite a summer for Kirsten Rausing, who has been racing and breeding horses for more than 50 years. The proprietor of Lanwades Stud is surfing the crest of a wave thanks to the herd of homebred fillies she has in training.

In the last two months alone horses carrying Rausing’s distinctive green and white silks have plundered three Group races, courtesy of Alpinista and Sandrine, to add to the Listed-race victories of Aleas and Oriental Mystique.

Rausing has even been winning in defeat. On August 19 Sandrine enhanced her paddocks value when a luckless runner-up, giving the winner 3lb, in the Lowther Stakes at York. And Albaflora did likewise later that afternoon when she chased home Snowfall in the Group 1 Yorkshire Oaks.