Avenir Certain (foaled 30 April 2011) is a French

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...

racehorse Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

who was unbeaten until racing in the 2014

Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe The Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe () is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris over a distance ...

. She only raced twice as a two-year-old, and after winning one minor race in 2014, she won the

Group 1 Group 1 may refer to: * Alkali metal, a chemical element classification for Alkali metal * Group 1 (motorsport), a regulation set of the FIA for series-production touring cars used in motorsport. * Group One Thoroughbred horse races, the leading e ...

Poule d'Essai des Pouliches The Poule d'Essai des Pouliches is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run over a distance of 1,600 metres (about 1 mile) ...

and

Prix de Diane The Prix de Diane, sometimes referred to as the French Oaks, is one of the most important and prestigious Group 1 horse races in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run at C ...

and the Group 2

Prix de la Nonette The Prix de la Nonette is a Group 2 flat horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run at Deauville over a distance of 2,000 metres (about 1¼ miles), and it is scheduled t ...

. She is trained by

Jean-Claude Rouget Jean-Claude Rouget (born 1953 in Normandy) is a French Thoroughbred horse trainer and former jockey A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase (horse racing), steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The wor ...

and owned by Antonio Caro and Gerard Augustin-Normand.

Background

Avenir Certain is a

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

filly A filly is a female horse that is too young to be called a mare. There are two specific definitions in use: *In most cases, a ''filly'' is a female horse under four years old. *In some nations, such as the United Kingdom and the United States ...

bred by Elisabeth Vidal and foaled on 30 April 2011. She was sired by

Le Havre Le Havre is a major port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the Seine, river Seine on the English Channel, Channe ...

, who won the

Prix du Jockey Club The Prix du Jockey Club, sometimes referred to as the French Derby, is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Chantilly ov ...

in 2009, and is now a

stallion A stallion is an adult male horse that has not been gelded ( castrated). Stallions follow the conformation and phenotype of their breed, but within that standard, the presence of hormones such as testosterone may give stallions a thicker, "cre ...

at Haras de la Cauviniere. Her dam is Puggy, a daughter of

Mark of Esteem Mark of Esteem (26 March 1993 – 21 May 2014) was an Irish-bred thoroughbred racehorse. In his two years of racing, he won four races and placed once from seven runs, with earnings of £365,139. Background Mark of Esteem was a bay horse with ...

. Puggy only won one race, but finished third in the 2006

Rockfel Stakes The Rockfel Stakes is a Group 2 flat horse race in Great Britain open to two-year-old fillies. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 7 furlongs (1,408 metres), and it is sc ...

. Avenir Certain was purchased at the

Arqana Arqana is a European auction house that operates horse auctions including the ''Ventes de Deauville'', one of the world's largest auctions for thoroughbred yearlings, which is held in August of each year in Deauville, France. Created by the merge ...

October

Yearling Yearling may refer to: *Yearling (horse), a horse between one and two years old *''The Yearling ''The Yearling'' is a novel by American writer Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, published in March 1938. It was the main selection of the Book of the ...

s sale 2012, for the price of

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

45,000, and is currently trained by

Racing career

2013: Two-year-old season

Avenir Certain faced only two opponents in her racecourse debut, which took place on 8 October 2013 at Bordeaux Le Bouscat Racecourse. She was ridden by Jean-Bernard Eyquem and won race by two lengths from Helwan. Her only other race as a two-year-old was a

conditions race Conditions races are horse races in which the weights carried by the runners are laid down by the conditions attached to the race. Weights are allocated according to the sex of the runners, with female runners carrying less weight than males; the ...

Chantilly Chantilly may refer to: Places France *Chantilly, Oise, a city ** US Chantilly, a football club *Château de Chantilly United States * Chantilly, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Chantilly (Charlotte neighborhood), North Carolina ...

, the Prix de la Grande Folie on 31 October, which she won this race by one length from Felcine.

2014: Three-year-old season

Avenir Certain first start as a three-year-old was the Prix des Carrefours, a 1600 m conditions race run on the

polytrack The track surface of a horse racing track refers to the material of which the track is made. There are three types of track surfaces used in modern horse racing. These are: *Turf, the most common track surface in Europe *Dirt, the most common trac ...

at Chantilly on 9 April 2014. She started as a short-priced favourite and won by two lengths from runner-up Got Fly. Avenir Certain then contested the

. In the early stages of the race she was positioned near the middle of the 16-runner field by jockey Gregory Benoist. She drifted right in the finishing straight, but ran on to take the lead with about 200m left to run and pulled clear to win by one and a quarter lengths from Veda, with Xcellence a further two and a half lengths further back in third place. There was a stewards' inquiry into the result of the race for possible interference, but the placings were not altered. In the

, she was held up near the rear of the field by Benoist. In the finishing straight, he pulled her wide of the rest of the field and she stayed on to challenge with about 100m left to run. She won the race, having pulled one length clear by the finish. Amour A Papa finished in second place, with Xcellence third and Shamkala fourth, all of which finished within half a length of each other. On 19 August, Avenir Certain started 3/5 favourite for the Group Two Prix de la Nonette over 2000 metres at

Deauville Racecourse Hippodrome Deauville-La Touques is a race track for thoroughbred horse racing located in Deauville in the Calvados département, in the Normandy ''région'' of France. Originally called Hippodrome de la Touques, it was named for the Touques River ...

. She extended her unbeaten run to six, taking the lead inside the final furlong and winning easily by one and a half lengths from her stable companion Crisolles. On 5 October, Avenir Certain moved up in distance to contest France's most prestigious race, the

over 2400 metres at Longchamp and started the 6/1 second favourite. She was ridden for the first time by

Christophe Lemaire Christophe Patrice Lemaire (Japanese:, born 20 May 1979) is a French-born jockey. He has enjoyed much of his success on the Japanese flat racing circuit, with the most wins at Japan Racing Association racetracks for five consecutive years sin ...

as Benoist rode the

Prix Niel The Prix Niel is a Group 2 flat horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Longchamp over a distance of 2,400 metres (about 1½ miles), in September each ...

winner Ectot. She was among the leaders from the start and took second place in the straight but faded in the closing stages to finish eleventh of the twenty runners, six lengths behind the winner Treve.

Breeding record

After her retirement from racing Avenir Certain was exported to Japan to become a broodmare. Her first foal Des Ailes, a filly by Deep Impact, won the Listed Sweetpea Stakes in 2020 and the Grade 2

Hanshin Himba Stakes The Hanshin Himba Stakes (Japanese 阪神牝馬ステークス) is a Grade 2 flat horse race in Japan for Thoroughbreds fillies and mares of at least four years of age. It is run over a distance of 1600 metres at Hanshin Racecourse in April. Th ...

in 2021.

Pedigree

''Note: b. =

Bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

, br. =

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing and painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors Orange (colour), orange and black. In the ...

, ch. =

Chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Description ...

References

{{reflist 2011 racehorse births Racehorses bred in France Racehorses trained in France Thoroughbred family 7-a