PRIX TURENNE - Temapica

There were lots of nice races across Europe this weekend, but the performance that caught my eye most of all came at Saint-Cloud on Friday afternoon in the Prix Turenne. Temapica had made a winning debut at the track in March and had followed that up with decent effort in stakes company at Toulouse and then in the Prix de Royaumont at Chantilly. Not seen since the end of May, Gerald Mosse’s filly was sent off at odds of 27 PMU on Friday, but she traveled into this race like a much better horse than those odds might suggest. Although slightly keen in the early stages, which was understandable on her first outing for over 100 days, she settled behind the early pace and was within 3 lengths of the lead as they began to swing for home. Holding an inside line, Marvin Grandin brought her alongside the leaders with 500m to run. Once getting clear daylight in front of her, Temapica lengthened in the style of a good horse and pulled readily clear to win by over 3 lengths. The McLloyd sectional times show that she clocked 10.90s for the penultimate furlong, the only point in the race at which any of the runners ran below the 11s line. Now 2 from 2 at Saint-Cloud, this daughter of Ectot seems perfectly suited to the Paris track.

Sold for €20,000 as a yearling at Arqana, she is from the family of Anmaat and at this stage she holds entries in both the Prix de L’Opera and the Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe. I think the 12 furlong trip really suits, but it would look a little far fetched to suggest that she would be anything other than a "social runner" in the Arc itself at this point in time. This was a really taking performance and she looked to be much more professional than she had been in the Spring, but it is also important to note that this was a Listed race run with a finishing speed of 112.8% from the winner. I really like the way that she lengthened her stride in the closing stages and although I have yet to see her in the flesh, the visual impression from the replays is that she still has some growing to do to fill her frame. The placed horses came into this with some solid recent form in the book and yet they were unable to live with her in the closing stages. She is going the right way and ought to be more than capable of winning another race at Listed or Group 3 level before the year is out. Whilst her Group 1 entries may prove to be a step too far at this stage of her career, it does show the esteem with which she is held by her connections and I expect her to be more than capable of running at that level in 2027 if she continues to progress.