Pearl Cap

Thoroughbred racehorse infobox
horsename = Pearl Cap


caption =
sire = Le Capucin
grandsire =Nimbus
dam = Pearl Maiden
damsire = Phaleron
sex = Filly
foaled = 1928
country = France flagicon|France
colour = Bay
breeder = Edward Esmond
owner = Mlle Diana Esmond
trainer = Frank Carter
record = Not found
earnings = Not found
race = Prix Herod (1930)
Prix Robert Papin (1930)
Prix Morny (1930)
Prix La Rochette (1930)
Poule d'Essai des Pouliches (1931)
Prix de Diane (1931)
Prix de Minerve (1931)
Prix Jacques Le Marois (1931)
Prix Vermeille (1931)
Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (1931)
awards= Champion Filly in France (1930, 1931)
honours = Prix Pearl Cap at Saint-Cloud Racecourse
updated= June 1, 2007

Pearl Cap (foaled 1928) was a French champion Thoroughbred racehorse who is considered one of her country's greatest racing fillys.

Owned and bred by the Esmond family, she was raced under the name of Miss Diana Esmond. She was trained by Frank Carter, a member of the prominent racing family that began in France with Thomas Carter (1805-1879) who immigrated from Peckleton, Leicestershire in England in 1831 and who founded the English Racing Colony in Chantilly, Oise.

Less than impressive in appearance, Pearl Cap is described by France Galop as being "light-framed" and "lop-eared." Nonetheless, she was impressive on the race track, demonstrating both blazing speed and great endurance in winning races from 1100 metres to 2400 metres. (0.68 to 1.5 miles).

Racing at age two in 1930, she won five races, including victories over colts in the Prix Robert Papin as well as in the prestigious (now Group One), Prix Morny. Her performance that year earned Pearl Cap France's champion two-year-old filly honors. In her three-year-old season, the filly again beat her male counterparts in major races. She finished second to Prince Rose in the Grand International d'Ostende at Hippodrome Wellington in Ostend, Belgium, a race her sire Le Capucin won in 1924. However, after winning three Group One (today) races in France, including the Prix de Diane, in October Pearl Cap convincingly defeated Prince Rose at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris when she became the first filly to ever win the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.

Retired to broodmare duties, Pearl Cap produced the 1947 Epsom Derby winner, Pearl Diver.

References

* [http://www.pedigreequery.com/pearl+cap Pearl Cap's pedigree and partial racing stats]