Fülszöveg
when etti plesch died in April 2003, her obituary in The Times stated: 'Lately she had all but completed her memoirs, which were awaited with some trepidation in international society.' These memoirs are now being published.
Etti Plesch earned a place in The Guinness Book of Records as the only woman owner to have won the Derby twice, with Psidium in 1961 and Henbit in 1980. What made Etti a legendary lady of the Turf was her 1970 victory in the Arc de Triomphe, when Sassafras beat Charles Engelhard's Nijinsky, ending his amazing run of 11 classic wins in a row.
Her own life was no less adventurous and extraordinary. By the age of 40, she had married six husbands, divorcing five of them, and losing two of them to the same woman. Finally she married a husband who could buy her a mare that could - and did - sire a Derby winner.
Born Countess Wurmbrand from a noble Austrian family, she was probably the illegitimate daughter of a noted rake, Count Josef Gizycki. Her mother was the...
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Fülszöveg
when etti plesch died in April 2003, her obituary in The Times stated: 'Lately she had all but completed her memoirs, which were awaited with some trepidation in international society.' These memoirs are now being published.
Etti Plesch earned a place in The Guinness Book of Records as the only woman owner to have won the Derby twice, with Psidium in 1961 and Henbit in 1980. What made Etti a legendary lady of the Turf was her 1970 victory in the Arc de Triomphe, when Sassafras beat Charles Engelhard's Nijinsky, ending his amazing run of 11 classic wins in a row.
Her own life was no less adventurous and extraordinary. By the age of 40, she had married six husbands, divorcing five of them, and losing two of them to the same woman. Finally she married a husband who could buy her a mare that could - and did - sire a Derby winner.
Born Countess Wurmbrand from a noble Austrian family, she was probably the illegitimate daughter of a noted rake, Count Josef Gizycki. Her mother was the cousin of Baroness Maria Vetsera, who died tragically with Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria at Mayerling.
Thwarted in love at an early age, Etti set off on her marital marathon. The first husband, Clendenin Ryan, was an American with a huge fortune. After a few weeks he accused her of gold-digging, set detectives on her ('the five Daddies' she called them) and packed her back on the boat to Europe. Husband number 2 was Count Pali Pálffy, who sang with his Tziganes, was one of the finest shots in Europe, and a dedicated ladies' man, who trophied eight wives. Etti lost him to Louise de Vilmorin, the French writer and femme fatale, who also stole her third husband, Count Tommy Esterházy, though this time she refrained from actually marrying him. Husband number 4, Count Zsiga Berchtold, helped
(Continued on back inside flap)
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