Miss France (foaled 23 March 2011) is an Irish-bred, French-trained

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. In May 2014 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 ...

Background

Miss France is a bay filly with no white markings, bred in Ireland by Dayton Investments. She was sired by Dansili, whose other progeny have included Harbinger,

The Fugue The Fugue (foaled 16 March 2009) is a British Thoroughbred racehorse who was named European Champion three-year-old filly at the Cartier Racing Awards. She won her only race as a two-year-old in 2011 before developing into one of the best filli ...

, Dank and Rail Link. Her dam, Miss Tahiti, was a top-class racemare who won the

Group One Group One, Group 1, Grade I or G1 is the term used for the highest level of Thoroughbred and Standardbred stakes races in many countries. In Europe, the level of races for Thoroughbred racing is determined using the Pattern races, Pattern race sys ...

Prix Marcel Boussac in 1995.

Racing career

2013: two-year-old season

Miss France began her racing career at Deauville Racecourse on 1 August when she finished ninth of the ten runners in a

maiden race In horse racing a maiden race is an event for horses that have not won a race. Horses that have not won a race are referred to as maidens. Maiden horse races are held over a variety of distances and under conditions with eligibility based on the se ...

over 1200 metres. On 31 August she started 5.3/1 second favourite for a race over 1600 metres at Chantilly Racecourse. Ridden by

Maxime Guyon Maxime Guyon (born 7 May 1989) is a French flat racing jockey, who debuted at 2005. In 2008, he received a professional license and won first group one at the Grand Prix de Paris. In 2010, he won races in the United Kingdom, Japan and Hong Kong. ...

, she accelerated clear of her opponents in the last 200 metres to win by one and a quarter

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 Indonesienne, a filly who went on to win the Prix Marcel Boussac. Four weeks after her win at Chantilly, Miss France was sent to England to contest the Group Three

Oh So Sharp Stakes The Oh So Sharp Stakes is a Group 3 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 ...

over seven furlongs 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 ...

. She was ridden by

Mickael Barzalona Mickaël Barzalona (born 3 August 1991 in Avignon, France) is a French-born Thoroughbred horse racing jockey, who is the retained jockey in France for Godolphin. Career Barzalona was born into a racing family, his grandfather is Christian Barz ...

and started 7/2 second favourite in a nine-runner field. After being restrained at the back of the field he moved forward to take the lead inside the final furlong and prevailed by a head from Lightning Thunder, despite appearing to idle in the closing stages.

2014: three-year-old season

On her first appearance as a three-year-old, Miss France started 8/5 favourite for the Group Three

Prix Imprudence The Prix Imprudence is a Group 3 flat horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run over a distance of 1,400 metres (about 7 furlongs) at Maisons-Laffitt ...

over 1400 metres at

Maisons-Laffitte Racecourse The Hippodrome de Maisons-Laffitte at 1 avenue de la Pelouse in the northwestern Parisian suburb of Maisons-Laffitte in France was a grass, turf horse racing facility and Hippodrome, track for Thoroughbred flat racing. Opened in 1878 by Joseph Olle ...

on 3 April. She never looked likely to win and finished sixth of the ten runners behind the François Doumen-trained outsider Xcellence. On 4 May Miss France started the 7/1 third favourite for the 1000 Guineas over the Rowley Mile at Newmarket. Ridden by Guyon, she took the lead approaching the final furlong and held off a late challenge from Lighting Thunder to win by a neck. On 15 June, the filly was moved up in distance for the Prix de Diane over 2100 metres at Chantilly. Guyon struggled to obtain a clear run in the straight before finishing strongly to dead-heat for fifth place, one and three quarter lengths behind the winner

Avenir Certain Avenir Certain (foaled 30 April 2011) is a French Thoroughbred racehorse who was unbeaten until racing in the 2014 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe. She only raced twice as a two-year-old, and after winning one minor race in 2014, she won the Group 1 P ...

. In August, Miss France finished second behind her stable companion Esoterique in the Group One

Prix Rothschild The Prix Rothschild is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to thoroughbred fillies and mares aged three years or older. It is run at Deauville over a distance of 1,600 metres (about 1 mile), and it is scheduled ...

at Deauville, with the British-trained favourite

Integral In mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented i ...

in third place. In October, Miss France returned to Newmarket for the Group One

Sun Chariot Stakes The Sun Chariot Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to fillies and mares aged three years or older. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 ...

in which she was one of four 7/2 co-favourites alongside Fintry, Esoterique and Integral. She raced in third place for most of the way before finishing second, a length behind Integral.

2015: four-year-old season

After an absence of more than ten months, Miss France returned to the track in the Listed Prix de la Cochere at Longchamp on 6 September and finished second of the nine runners, a short neck behind the three-year-old winner Sonnerie.

Pedigree

References

External links

Career 1-2-3 Colour Chart
– ''Miss France'' {{1000 Guineas winners 2011 racehorse births Racehorses bred in Ireland Racehorses trained in France Thoroughbred family 10-e 1000 Guineas winners