Story of the pink silks: the fashion icon and the master trainer

A truly unique set of racing silks will go under the hammer at the Ader auction house in Paris on Sunday, recalling the somewhat unlikely alliance between France's most famous fashion icon and arguably the country's most successful trainer.

The pink colours saw the light of day on a racecourse only a handful of times more than 50 years ago yet, such is the lasting allure of the name Coco Chanel, they are set to be the star lot at a sale of fixtures and fittings offered from the Chateau de Bourgfontaine.

Chanel was already 80 years old and well into her second coming as a couturier when in 1964 she was introduced to Francois Mathet, the dominant figure of the turf at the time.