Avenir Certain (foaled 30 April 2011) is a French

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. Thoroughbreds are ...

racehorse 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, France, 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 (racing), a historic (until 1981) classification for Touring car racing, applied to standard touring cars. Comparable to modern FIA Group N * Group On ...

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) at ...

and

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. It is run at Chantilly over a distance of 2,100 met ...

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 to ...

. She is trained by

Jean-Claude Rouget Jean-Claude Rouget (born 1953 in Normandy) is a French Thoroughbred horse trainer A horse trainer is a person who tends to horses and teaches them different disciplines. Some of the responsibilities trainers have are caring for the animals' phys ...

and owned by Antonio Caro and Gerard Augustin-Normand.

Background

Avenir Certain is a bay filly bred by Elisabeth Vidal and foaled on 30 April 2011. She was sired by

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very ...

, 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 over ...

in 2009, and is now a stallion at Haras de la Cauviniere. Her dam is Puggy, a daughter of Mark of Esteem. Puggy only won one race, but finished third in the 2006 Rockfel Stakes. 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 Mo ...

s sale 2012, for the price of

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

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 located in the Oise department **US Chantilly, a football club *Château de Chantilly, a historic château located in the town of Chantilly United States * Chantilly, Missou ...

, 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 sinc ...

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), and it is scheduled ...

winner

Ectot Ectot (foaled 8 February 2011) is a French Thoroughbred racehorse. After finishing second on his debut, he won his remaining four starts as a two-year-old in 2013 including the Prix des Chênes and the Critérium International. In the following ...

. 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 Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

Sweetpea Stakes in 2020 and the Grade 2 Hanshin Himba Stakes in 2021.

Pedigree

''Note: b. = Bay, 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 or painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors orange and black. In the RGB color model us ...

, ch. = Chestnut''

References

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