She was sired by Marju, who won the St James's Palace Stakes and finished second in The Derby in 1991 before becoming a successful breeding stallion: his other offspring have included Viva Pataca, Soviet Song and Indigenous.
[2] My Emma's dam Pato was a moderate racehorse, winning four minor races from twenty-four starts between 1984 and 1986[3] but was better as a broodmare, producing Classic Cliche who won the St Leger in 1995 and the Ascot Gold Cup in the following year.
[4] The filly was initially sent into training with Robert Williams but moved to the Chestnut Tree Stables of Rae Guest at Newmarket, Suffolk before her racing career began.
Ridden for the first time Cash Asmussen she appeared to have every chance in the straight but finished third, beaten a short neck and three quarters of a length by the André Fabre-trained fillies Sangria and Binary.
[8] After an absence of more than ten months, My Emma returned to action as a four-year-old in the Prix Maurice de Nieuil over 2500 metres at Maisons-Laffitte Racecourse on 20 July 1997, in which she was matched against male opposition.
My Emma overtook Whitewater Affair inside the final furlong and won "comfortably" by three quarters of a length, with Crown of Light taking third ahead of Reams of Verse.
Her preparation for the race had been interrupted by a fall in a training session which left her with what Rae Guest described as "a great haematoma on her backside, a blood blister the size of half a football".