Providential

Providential (February 6, 1977 – May 1998) was an Irish-born Thoroughbred racehorse who competed successfully in France and won the most important race on turf in the United States. Bred and raced by Bertram R. Firestone, he was sired by Run the Gantlet, the 1971 American Champion Male Turf Horse and a son of Tom Rolfe, the 1965 Preakness Stakes winner and American Champion Three-Year-Old Male Horse. His dam was Prudent Girl, a daughter of Primera who raced in England where he won back-to-back editions of the Princess of Wales's Stakes in 1959-1960.

Trained by Francois Boutin, Providential made two starts at age two. After making a winning debut on October 29, 1979 at Saint-Cloud Racecourse, he came back on November 11 to win the Group 2 Critérium de Saint-Cloud. In January 1980, Providential was sold to Serge Fradkoff, a Swiss businessman who also campaigned Perrault and Kilijaro in France and the United States.

In his first start for his new owner on April 13, 1980, Providential won the Group 2 Prix Greffulhe at Longchamp Racecourse in Paris. On the same racecourse, the colt ran second in the Prix Hocquart and third in France's most important race for three-year-old colts, the Group 1 Prix du Jockey Club. Fradkoff then entrusted the horse's race conditioning to Olivier Douieb who saddled him to three unsuccessful starts in France, a third-place finish in the Premio Roma at Capannelle Racecourse in Rome, Italy, and twentieth place in a Group 1 race at Hipódromo de San Isidro in Argentina.