Assessment and Honours
Petite Etoile was rated at 134 by Timeform in 1959, making her the highest-rated three-year-old filly of the year. The rating was the highest ever awarded to a British three-year-old filly and remained so until the sprinter Habibti was rated at 136 in 1983. Petite Etoile was again rated at 134 in 1960, making her the equal highest-rated older horse in Europe, alongside the sprinter Bleep-Bleep. In 1961 she was the highest-rated older female with a rating of 131.
In 1959, the Bloodstock Breeders' Review conducted their first Horse of the Year poll. Petite Etoile won the award, taking 90% of the votes. Petite Etoiles career earnings of £72,624 set a record for a female racehorse trained in Britain or Ireland, which stood until it was surpassed by Park Top in 1969.
Noel Murless described her as "a peculiar animal... unique in every way" who was only happy when exercising with other grey horses. In their book A Century of Champions, John Randall and Tony Morris rated Petite Etoile the sixth best filly trained in the British Isles in the 20th Century and the best British filly of the 1950s.
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