Banassa was a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 Thoroughbred

Thoroughbred

The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...

 Filly

Filly

A filly is a young female horse too young to be called a mare. There are several specific definitions in use.*In most cases filly is a female horse under the age of four years old....

 racehorse

Horse racing

Horse racing is an equestrian sport that has a long history. Archaeological records indicate that horse racing occurred in ancient Babylon, Syria, and Egypt. Both chariot and mounted horse racing were events in the ancient Greek Olympics by 648 BC...

 bred and raced by Julien Décrion. Named for an ancient Roman

Ancient Rome

Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....

 village in Morocco

Morocco

Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...

, she was sired by Décrion's multiple race winner Un Gaillard and out of his mare, Fatou Gaye.

Banassa was trained by William Head, a descendant of the founders of the English Racing Colony at Chantilly. Ridden by Claudius Lalanne, as a three-year-old Banassa won the Prix Cleopatre

Prix Cléopâtre

The Prix Cléopâtre is a Group 3 flat horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run at Saint-Cloud over a distance of 2,100 metres , and it is scheduled to take place each year in May....

 and was second in the French Classic

French Classic Races

In France, the Classics of horse racing are a series of Group One Thoroughbred horse races run annually on the flat. The four races are organized by France Galop.The Prix de Diane is restricted to filles....

, the Prix de Diane

Prix de Diane

The Prix de Diane, sometimes referred to as the French Oaks, is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies...

. At age four, at the Saint-Cloud Racecourse

Saint-Cloud Racecourse

Hippodrome de Saint-Cloud is a grass race course for Thoroughbred flat horse racing opened in 1901 at 1 rue du Camp Canadien in Saint-Cloud near Paris, France...

, she won the Prix Boiard

Prix Exbury

The Prix Exbury is a Group 3 flat horse race in France which is open to thoroughbreds aged four years or older. It is run at Saint-Cloud over a distance of 2,000 metres , and it is scheduled to take place each year in March.-History:...

 and the Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud

Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud

The Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to thoroughbreds aged four years or older. It is run at Saint-Cloud over a distance of 2,400 metres , and it is scheduled to take place each year in late June.-History:...

. At Longchamp Racecourse Banassa won the Prix du Prince d'Orange

Prix du Prince d'Orange

The Prix du Prince d'Orange is a Group 3 flat horse race in France which is open to three-year-old thoroughbreds. It is run at Longchamp over a distance of 2,000 metres , and it is scheduled to take place each year in September.-History:...

, a prep race for the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe

Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe

The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe is a Group 1 flat horse race in France which is open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Longchamp over a distance of 2,400 metres , and it is scheduled to take place each year, usually on the first Sunday in October.Popularly referred to as the...

 in which she finished second to Sica Boy. Her owner then sent her to Laurel Park Racecourse in Laurel, Maryland

Laurel, Maryland

Laurel is a city in northern Prince George's County, Anne Arundel County, and Howard County, Maryland, United States, located midway between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. Incorporated in 1870, the city maintains a historic district including its Main Street...

 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 where as the betting

Parimutuel betting

Parimutuel betting is a betting system in which all bets of a particular type are placed together in a pool; taxes and the "house-take" or "vig" is removed, and payoff odds are calculated by sharing the pool among all winning bets...

 favorite ran second to Fisherman

Fisherman (horse)

Fisherman was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. He was bred and raced by Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney, a member of the prominent horse-racing Whitney family. He was out of the mare Crawfish and sired by Whitney's Phalanx, the winner of the 1947 Belmont Stakes voted American Champion...

 in the Washington, D.C. International Stakes. Racing at age five, Banassa's best result in 1955 was a win in the Prix Jean Prat

Prix Vicomtesse Vigier

The Prix Vicomtesse Vigier is a Group 2 flat horse race in France open to thoroughbreds aged four years or older. It is run at Longchamp over a distance of 3,100 metres , and it is scheduled to take place each year in May....

.