Trainer George Boughey has described Group 2 winner Believing (Ire) Mehmas {Ire}) as the “perfect outcross” for breeders ahead of the Tattersalls December Mares Sale.
The Highclere Racing-owned four-year-old, who has danced every dance this season and reached a career-high rating of 112, is one of the star attractions of the Sceptre Sessions at that sale and Boughey says that his stable star would be a no-brainer for potential buyers.
He said, “With her being a Group 1 filly by Mehmas, who has had a record-breaking season and has become that sexy sire, I've no doubt he's going to become that broodmare sire that everyone wants to be a part of. Graduates of this sale are already winning Breeders' Cups, as we saw with Quiet Reflection (GB) (Showcasing {GB}) [dam of Juvenile Fillies' Turf winner Lake Victoria (Ire)] this year and a number of others going to the highest level. She is the perfect outcross for any of those modern day stallions.”
There are few fillies as battle-hardened as Believing. Having started her campaign in Hong Kong, she went on to race eight times — mostly at the highest level — throughout an exhilarating campaign. Of course, there would have been another Group 1 contested had she not been deemed a late non-runner after getting upset in the stalls ahead of the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, for which Believing was a leading fancy for at Del Mar.
Reflecting on that mishap, Boughey said, “It was one of those things that you couldn't foresee happening, really. We did loads of gate work with her to try and get her to jump that bit faster. She stood in there and had a little bit of a fright. One of them a few gates down from her reared and it just set her off. The guys at Highclere were super about the whole thing. She's been a star for them. It's just sad that at the end of the story, with the pace collapse [in the actual race], that it wasn't her in front. But she came back safe and sound and that's the main thing.”
Nobody can take away the fact that Believing is a Group 2 winner who hit the frame in no less than three Group 1s this season. Reflecting on that stellar campaign, Boughey said, “It's always a bit of a punt keeping a Stakes-winning filly in training from three to four but she'd shown us the signs, certainly in the winter and into the spring — I must say, I wish I had her in the Al Quoz [Sprint in Dubai] as she was absolutely flying at that stage. She just really thrived through the spring. Her Listed win [at Haydock] was really impressive and set the tone for the season, beating a Group 1 winner. She went to Royal Ascot and what a filly to run well there twice within the week. She's a Group 2 winner and has danced every dance. In jest, I said to Harry [Herbert] at the start of the season that we'd start in Hong Kong and finish in Del Mar. The constitution of the filly allowed me to do that. And also, the belief of the owners to allow me to campaign her so positively.”
Asked to sum up the physical attributes that make Believing such a hot commodity, Boughey added, “For me, she's as good a sprinting type as you'll see. She has a deep girth and is a good-moving type for a sprinter. She's not overly big but she has become a more compact individual as time has gone on. We had her on a Guineas preparation after her two-year-old career. She immediately came back to sprinting trips and looks a fast, precocious type, one I'm sure will breed nice stock.”
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