Peter Willett, an esteemed English racing writer and worldwide breeding authority for more than 60 years, has died at the age of 97.

He was a major player in the inception to recognise the excellence of the thoroughbred adopted worldwide.

Known as the Pattern System it measured the quality of races under Groups 1, 2, 3 and Listed classification.

It was developed in the mid 1960s by the Duke of Norfolk’s committee, on the Pattern of Racing made up of men who had a passion for the thoroughbred, including Peter Willett; he served with distinction on the committee for 27 years.

He was quite an authority on how the thoroughbred was bred, he devoted much of his time in researching pedigrees.

Books were a passion with him, he wrote quite a few, including The Classic Racehorse and the Makers Of The Modern Thoroughbred.

He joined Roger Mortimer and Richard Onslow to write the Biographical Encyclopaedia of British Flat Racing that proved a great success in Britian.