Prixdelahorse Tracker - La Carmen

One runner, one winner. Things can’t really get any better for the connections of Keiai Nautique, who sired a winner with his very first runner at Clairefontaine on Friday. La Carmen is a half-sister to Prosecco, a winner over 1,400m in France before he switched to Hong Kong. She comes from the family of Yashmak, who won the Ribblesdale Stakes for Sir Henry Cecil before going on to win a Grade 1 at Belmont Park in the US as well as the Derby winner Commander in Chief. La Carmen has a fair pedigree, but she reached just €20,000 as a yearling at Arqana in 2024, perhaps in part because her sire is relatively unknown in Europe and her dam was unraced. Keiai Nautique won the G1 NHK Mile in Tokyo in 2018 and the son of Deep Impact ended his career with a 4th placed finish behind Zaaki in the Mackinnon Stakes at Flemington in 2021. He’s been standing at Karwin Farm in Normandy for a fee of €3,000 and currently has 8 juveniles in training in France, of which La Carmen is the first to reach the track.

An SP of 12.0 PMU would suggest that she was at least thought to be capable of running a nice race on debut, but the first point to really strike me about La Carmen is her size. She appeared to dwarf several of her rivals in this 1,600m Fillies maiden and she used her size and long stride to particularly good effect when lengthening away inside the final furlong. Sat handy throughout under Tony Piccone, she came alongside the leader with 400m to run and once asked to stretch, she pulled readily clear to win by 3.5 lengths with a race best 11.62s for the final furlong (Source: McLloyd). The first 4 places were all filled by debutantes, so it is hard to be overly sure what this form may be worth, but the 5th placed Another Chance had won a claimer at Lyon Parilly last month, so there is at least a small amount of substance to the form. The runner-up, Dalmora, was sent off as 3rd favourite at an SP of 7.4 PMU and ran a nice race when making some progress from just behind the winner, although she was no match for her in the final 200m. A winning time of 1:39.60 with a finishing speed of 109% would be slightly below par for the course given the going was given as “Bon 3,2” on the penetrometer and this race was nearly 3s slower than the colts and geldings in the earlier Prix D’Auberville. However, whilst I need to acknowledge that the steady early pace and a prominent position did help La Carmen to secure the first run on most of the field, once asked to lengthen, she quickened in the manner that would suggest she has the potential to be the best of these as a 2-year-old and beyond. Given her size, it’s not surprising that she made her debut over 1,600m, although she also held entries in races over 1,400m at Cholet and Chantilly. There’s a nice story here for Henri-Alex Pantall and Haras du Grand Lys, for whom she is a first winner of 2026, but aside from the point about her sire’s currently perfect record with his progeny, there is also a nice prospect for the rest of the season. Including premiums, La Carmen has earned €16,012 for this victory at Clairefontaine and there is every reason to think that she can add to that in the weeks and months ahead, with some valuable Black Type presumably the ultimate aim.