Chicquita

Chicquita made her racecourse debut in a maiden race over 1800 metres on heavy ground at Longchamp Racecourse and started at odds of 4/1 in an eleven-runner field. Ridden by Stéphane Pasquier she recovered after being hampered soon after the start and finished third behind the Freddy Head-trained Intimhir.[7]

On 24 May 2013 Chicqita began her second season in the Prix Lunadix, a minor stakes race over 2100 metres at Saint-Cloud Racecourse. After leading soon after the start before accelerating away from her seven rivals (headed by Intimhir). Fhe was three lengths clear and looked certain to win when she veered to the right, collided with the hedge bordering the course, and fell 50 metres from the finish.[8] Despite her fall she was then stepped up sharply in class for the Group 1 Prix de Diane at Chantilly Racecourse on 14 June in which she was ridden as at Saint-Cloud by Antoine Hamelin. She started a 25/1 outsider but exceeded expectations as she came from far back in the field to finish second behind Treve despite hanging left in the straight. The unplaced runners included Silasol (Prix Marcel Boussac, Prix Saint-Alary), Esoterique and Flotilla (Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, Poule d'Essai des Pouliches).

Chicquita was then sent to Ireland and moved up in distance for the Irish Oaks over one and a half miles at the Curragh Racecourse on 20 July, with the ride going to the experienced local jockey Johnny Murtagh. The Ribblesdale Stakes winner Riposte (trained by the widow of the recently deceased Henry Cecil) started favourite ahead of The Oaks winner Talent with Chicquita the 9/2 third choice in the betting. The Ballydoyle stable of Aidan O'Brien fielded three runners, namely Venus de Milo (Naas Oaks Trial), Just Pretending (third in the Irish 1,000 Guineas) and Magical Dream (C L Weld Park Stakes) whilst the only other runner was the Jim Bolger-trained Scintillula. Just Pretending set a steady pace with Murtagh settling the French-trained filly in third place. Chicquita began to make progress approaching the final furlong and despite veering to the left in the closing stages she gained the advantage in the final strides and won by half a length and a neck from Venus de Milo and Just Pretending.[9] After the race her trainer Alain de Royer-Dupré said "She never won before this race. I knew she was a top, top filly and we came here because The Curragh is a typical racecourse for this type of filly with a big action. I know she stays. Johnny gave her a good ride because she is not easy you cannot do too much too quickly on her... She could have an exceptional career except for what she does at the end of a race".[10]

In September 2013 Paul Makin announced that he was selling off nearly all of his horses[11] and Chicquita was offered for sale at Goffs in November. She was bought for €6,000,000, a record for a horse sold at auction in Ireland,[12] by the bloodstock agents Peter & Ross Doyle, acting on behalf of John Magnier's Coolmore Stud organisation.[13] She was transferred to the stable of Aidan O'Brien at Ballydoyle.

Chicquita made her first track appearance for well over a year when she contested the Blandford Stakes at the Curragh on 14 September 2014 and finished second to the three-year-old Tarfasha. In the 2014 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe at Longchamp on 5 October she started a 40/1 outsider and finished fifteenth of the twenty runners behind Treve. Two weeks later she started at odds of 7/1 for the British Champions Fillies & Mares Stakes at Ascot Racecourse in which she was ridden as on her two previous starts by her trainer's son Joseph. After tracking the leaders she took the lead approaching the final furlong but then "threw it away"[14] as she veered to the left and was beaten into third by Madame Chiang and Silk Sari. She ended her racing career with a trip to California for the Breeders' Cup Turf at Santa Anita Park on 1 November in which she faced top-class male opposition. Ridden by Frankie Dettori and facing on a left-handed track for the first time since her three-year-old debut, she finished fifth of the twelve runners behind Main Sequence, Flintshire, Twilight Eclipse and Telescope.