Whatever happened to... Pilsudski?

Breeding suggested he should have been a little more precocious than he was, being by top-class miler Polish Precedent out of Cocotte, daughter of Derby winner Troy.

Scroll down to read more:

Yet as a juvenile, Pilsudski was something akin to the red-headed stepchild of the powerful Sir Michael Stoute yard, barely able to hold his own in maidens.

Even by the spring of 1995, he had yet to blossom and it was not until his fifth start that he struck a winning note, in a Class B handicap at Newmarket.

"It is very unusual for such a top-class horse to climb the handicap ladder," said Swinburn, who partnered the colt to his second victory, in the Tote Gold Trophy at Goodwood in July of his three-year-old campaign.

"He just seemed to get better as he got older and he became a tremendous racehorse."

Even so, he had still acquired an unprepossessing record of two wins in seven starts when stepped into Graded company for the first time at the age of four, in April 1996.

And that didn't pan out, as the unconsidered 16-1 shot finished second in the Sandown's Group Three Gordon Richards Stakes. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. No one could have guessed how good his conqueror would be; Singspiel went on to become a multiple Group One winner.

After breaking his Group Three duck a month later in the Brigadier Gerard Stakes, Pilsudski's run as a beaten favourite in First Island's Prince Of Wales's Stakes at Ascot posed more questions than it did answers.

Yet Swinburn says he had "still not fully matured" when reunited with him to win the Group Three Royal Whip Stakes at the Curragh in August 1996.

"He progressed tremendously as he got older. He was very straightforward to ride. You could set your clock by him. If you could have a stable full of horses like him, you'd be very happy," said Swinburn. "He was a joy to ride and you wouldn't know he was in the yard."

Then things really started to click. A late surge saw them land the Group One Grosser-Pries Von Baden over a mile and a half at Baden-Baden, Germany, and though he had a tough test when five lengths second to Helissio in the Prix de l'Arc De Triomphe, Stoute elected to give him one more run that year.

Swinburn said: "He thrived on hard work. He was so tough and consistent. We went to Woodbine in Canada for the Breeders' Cup Turf and going down to the start, I was astonished because he felt like a fresh horse. It was amazing when you consider that he'd had such a hard race in the Arc shortly before."

The pair exacted their revenge on Singspiel in a high-class renewal, beating him by a length and a quarter, with Swain and Shantou respectively third and fourth.

"I stopped riding in 1997 and before I went to America to join Steve Cauthen, I rode Pilsudski in a piece of work at Newbury in the spring, a week before I left, and it made it all the more difficult for me to go because he had improved so much again."

Pilsudski shone like a supernova over middle distances that summer, landing four more Group Ones - the Coral-Eclipse, Irish Champion Stakes, Newmarket's Dubai Champion Stakes and signing off with victory in the Japan Cup.

In all he amassed £2,273,998 and earned 10 wins from 22 starts, being placed a further eight times.

Retired from the track, the Ballymacoll Stud-bred Pilsudski initially stood at Shizunai Stallion Station at Hokkaido in Japan, alongside Tabasco Cat, Captain Steve, Dehere, Forty Niner and Croco Rouge, until he returned to his native Ireland in 2003, having been purchased by the Irish National Stud and Anngrove Stud.

Pilsudski now stands for a veritable bargain fee of 4,000 as a dual-purpose stallion, alongside Rudimentary and Alderbrook at Anngrove Stud, Mountmellick in Co. Laois.

Stud manager Alistair Pim says the now 15-year-old is thriving. "He's a lovely character. You wouldn't expect any of his progeny to be precocious two-year-olds, but he's clearly putting his stamp on the foals.

"He was a tough and sound horse, and his foals appear to be big, strong individuals. He's covered some well-related mares and we're hopeful that one day he'll end up a champion National Hunt sire."

It may not have been the bright picture breeders had initially hoped for, but Pilsudski's legacy is far from finished. Sure, it's not a Botticelli. But it isn't an Ugly Betty, either.