Mesa (1932–1941) was 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 c ...

racehorse and

broodmare A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than four ...

. She showed very good form as a juvenile when she won two races and finished third in the

Grand Critérium Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and commun ...

. In the following year she was sent to England where she won the

1000 Guineas The 1000 Guineas Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old fillies. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 ...

and looked unlucky when finishing third in

Epsom Oaks The Oaks Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old fillies. It is run at Epsom Downs over a distance of 1 mile, 4 furlongs and 6 yards (2, ...

. She also finished second in the

Prix du Président de la République The Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to thoroughbreds aged four years or older. It is run at Saint-Cloud over a distance of 2,400 metres (about 1½ miles), and it is s ...

and the

Prix de La Jonchere The Prix Paul de Moussac is a Group 3 flat horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and geldings. It is run at Chantilly over a distance of 1,600 metres (about 1 mile), and it is scheduled to ...

and ran fifth in the

Grand Prix de Paris The Grand Prix de Paris is a Group 1 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 ...

. She made a very promising start to her time as a broodmare before dying at the age of nine.

Background

Mesa was a "plain" bay mare bred by Pierre Corbiere at his Nonant-le-Pin stud in France and was leased to

Pierre Wertheimer Pierre Wertheimer (8 January 1888 – 24 April 1965) was a French businessman, who co-founded Chanel with Coco Chanel. Family business Wertheimer was born to a Jewish family, She was trained at

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 ...

in France by Albert Swann. She was sired by the Irish stallion Kircubbin who won the

Irish St Leger The Irish St Leger is a Group 1 flat horse race in Ireland open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at the Curragh over a distance of 1 mile and 6 furlongs (2,816 metres), and it i ...

as a three-year-old before being sent to France where he won the

Prix d'Ispahan The Prix d'Ispahan is a 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 raci ...

and the

. He was the

Leading sire in France The list below shows the leading Thoroughbred sire of racehorses in France for each year since 1887. This is determined by the amount of prize money won by the sire's progeny during the season. Due to the huge prize money of the Prix de l'Arc de Tri ...

in 1930. Mesa's dam Mackwiller was a top-class racehorse who won the

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 ...

in 1926. Apart from Mesa she produced the influential broodmares Mammee (female-line ancestor of

Vimy Vimy ( or ; ; Dutch: ''Wimi'') is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in the Hauts-de-France region of France. Located east of Vimy is the Canadian National Vimy Memorial dedicated to the Battle of Vimy Ridge and the Canadian soldiers ...

and

Ma Biche Ma Biche (foaled 1980) was an American-bred, French-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare who won the classic 1000 Guineas at Newmarket Racecourse in 1983. The filly was the best racehorse of her age and sex in Europe in 1982 when she won ...

) and Muscida (ancestor of

Classic Park Classic Park is a stadium in Eastlake, Ohio, in suburban Cleveland. It is primarily used for baseball, and is the home field of the Lake County Captains minor league baseball team. It was built in 2003 at a cost of $22 million under the name Eastl ...

and

Court Masterpiece Court Masterpiece (foaled 12 May 2000) is a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He showed promise and conitency in his early career, winning a competitive maiden race as a juvenile, winning the Listed Thoroughbred Stakes as a three-year-old ...

Racing career

1934: two-year-old season

As a two-year-old Mesa won a minor race and then took the valuable Poule des Foals over 1400 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 t ...

. In autumn he was matched against male opposition in France' most prestigious juvenile race, the

over 1600 metres at

Longchamp Racecourse The Longchamp Racecourse (french: Hippodrome de Longchamp) is a 57 hectare horse-racing facility located on the Route des Tribunes at the Bois de Boulogne in Paris, France. It is used for flat racing and is noted for its variety of interlaced tr ...

and finished third behind Pampeiro and Corrida. On her other start he ran second to Tulifer in the Poule de Deux Ans.

1935: three-year-old season

Mesa began her second campaign in the

over 1400 metres in 22 April and came home second, beaten a short by seven-year-old Jus de Raisin. On 3 May the filly was sent to England for the 122nd runner of the 1000 Guineas over the Rowley Mile at

Newmarket Racecourse Newmarket Racecourse is a British Thoroughbred horse racing venue in Newmarket, Suffolk, Newmarket, Suffolk, comprising two individual racecourses: the Rowley Mile and the July Course. Newmarket is often referred to as the headquarters of ...

, in which he was ridden by

Rae Johnstone William Raphael "Rae" Johnstone (13 April 1905 – 29 April 1964), was an Australian flat-race jockey. After enjoying considerable success in his native country, he relocated to Europe in 1932 and spent most of the rest of his life in France. He ...

and started at odds of 8/1 in a twenty-two runner field. The

Queen Mary Stakes The Queen Mary Stakes is a Group races, Group 2 Flat racing, flat Horse racing, horse race in Great Britain open to two-year-old Filly, fillies. It is run at Ascot Racecourse, Ascot over a distance o ...

winner Caretta started favourite while the other fancied runners included Corrida, Lair, Annabel and Ankaret. Mesa won by three

lengths Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a base unit for length is chosen, from which all other units are derived. In the Intern ...

from Hyndford Bridge with Caretta one and a half lengths back in third. Mesa was moved up in distance to contest the

Oaks Stakes The Oaks Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old fillies. It is run at Epsom Downs over a distance of 1 mile, 4 furlongs and 6 yards (2 ...

over one and a half miles at

Epsom Racecourse Epsom Downs is a Grade 1 racecourse on the hills associated with Epsom in Surrey, England which is used for thoroughbred horse racing. The "Downs" referred to in the name are part of the North Downs. The course, which has a crowd capacity of 13 ...

and started the 5/4 favourite. She was again partnered by Rae Johnstone, despite the jockey having received a seven-day suspension while riding in France. She finished third to

Quashed Quashed (foaled 1932) was a British-bred and British-trained racehorse, winner of The Oaks in 1935. For many years, the Verdict family was not accepted into the British Stud Book because Quashed's dam was effectively a half-bred and it was n ...

and Ankaret, beaten just over a length by the winner, but looked an unlucky loser, making up almost ten lengths in the closing stages after failing to obtain a clear run until the final furlong. Johnstone was widely adjudged to have ridden a poor race, having elected to make his challenge on the inside through the thick of the field. In the

on 30 June she ran well but finished fifth of the twenty-two runners behind the upset winner Crudité. On her final racecourse appearance in the

Saint-Cloud Racecourse Hippodrome de Saint-Cloud is a grass race course for Thoroughbred flat horse racing opened in 1901 at 1 rue du Camp Canadien in Saint-Cloud near Paris, France. During World War 1, the race course site housed the No. 4 Canadian Stationary Hospital ...

a week later Mesa took the lead in the straight but was overtaken in the closing stages and finished second to Louqsor.

Assessment and honours

In their book, ''A Century of Champions'', based on the Timeform rating system, John Randall and Tony Morris rated Mesa an "average" winner of the 1000 Guineas.

Breeding record

In 1936 Mesa was bought by Sir Malcolm McAlpine and retired to become a broodmare. She produced at least three foals before dying of a "twisted gut" in 1941. Her foals were: *Historic, a bay colt, foaled in 1939, sired by

Solario Solario (1922–1945) was a successful United Kingdom, British Thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse and influential Horse breeding#Terminology, sire. Background Bred in Ireland by the Windham Wyndham-Quin, 4th Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl, ...

. Won six races, second in the

Jockey Club Cup A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used to describe the individual w ...

. *Solesa, bay filly, 1940, by Solario. Won one race. Dam of Ratification (

Coventry Stakes The Coventry Stakes is a Group 2 flat horse race in Great Britain open to two-year-old horses. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 6 furlongs (1,207 metres), and it is scheduled to take place each ...

) and Native Heath (

John Porter Stakes The John Porter Stakes is a Group 3 flat horse race in Great Britain open to horses aged four years or older. It is run over a distance of 1 mile, 4 furlongs () a ...

). *Rameses, bay colt, 1941, by

Bahram Bahrām ( fa, بهرام) is a male given name. Other variants Behram, Bahran, Vahran, and Vahram ( uz, Баҳром, Bahrom and Tajik: Баҳром, Bahrom) The older form is Vahrām ( pal, 𐭥𐭫𐭧𐭫𐭠𐭭, in la, Varrames), also spell ...

Pedigree

References

{{1000 Guineas Winners 1932 racehorse births 1941 racehorse deaths Racehorses bred in France Racehorses trained in France Thoroughbred family 1-u 1000 Guineas winners