La Mehana (FR)

La Mehana began her racing career in her native France, winning her first two starts in summer 2022 including a listed stakes at Deauville. She subsequently made seven more starts in her home country, competing mainly in stakes events for trainer Jean-Claude Rouget, and picked up two more wins at the listed level through the end of 2023, both held at 1 ½ miles.

That December, U.S. trainer Christophe Clement purchased La Mehana at the Arqana December Breeding Stock Sale in France for owner LSU Stables and transferred her to his New York stable. The now 5-year-old mare made her first U.S. start in the Grade 3 Orchid Stakes March 30, 2024, and finished a good third behind McKulick and Surprisingly. In her next start, she ran even better, checking in third by a head in the Grade 3 Sheepshead Bay Stakes May 3 at Belmont at the Big A.

La Mehana stumbled at the break in her third U.S. start and ended up fifth behind top-class War Like Goddess in the Grade 3 Robert G. Dick Memorial Stakes July 7 at Delaware Park. After nearly three months off, she returned in the Oct. 4, Grade 3 Waya Stakes at Belmont at the Big A, and broke through with her first graded stakes victory. La Mehana trailed her five opponents through the third turn in that 1 3/8-mile race before unleashing an impressive rally along the inside to prevail by a neck with Kendrick Carmouche in the irons.

La Mehana is by the Irish-bred sire Al Wukair, a Group 1 stakes winner, and she is out of the winning Dansili mare Oceanie. She is a half-sister to Ocean Fantasy, a Group 3 stakes winner in Germany, and is from the family of Group 1 winner Grape Tree Road and Group 2 winner Watar.