The best is yet to come from You Got To Me (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}), according to her trainer Ralph Beckett, who drew parallels between the Irish Oaks heroine and his brilliant Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe winner Bluestocking (GB) (Camelot {GB}) ahead of the December Mares Sale at Tattersalls, which takes place from December 2 to 5.
You Got To Me, who will go through the ring on Tuesday, December 3, is one of the star attractions at the upcoming Sceptre Sessions and Beckett admitted that he is quietly hopeful that the winning bidder will leave the Classic winner in training at Kimpton Down Stables for what could be a fruitful four-year-old campaign in 2025.
Few fillies progressed like You Got To Me did this year. She rates as a hugely exciting older filly to stay in training, with Beckett admitting that the Valmont and Newsells Park Stud-owned filly could chart a similar path to what Bluestocking did this year.
When asked to map out a potential plan for You Got To Me next season, the trainer said, “Very similar to Bluestocking, funnily enough. I'd probably drop her back and start her in the [Group 2] Middleton at York [over 1m2f] as it's a track she showed a distinct liking for in the Yorkshire Oaks. Then we would figure it out from there. It would be something along those lines and you'd probably frame the year around the Yorkshire Oaks and work back from that. But you wouldn't be afraid to run against the colts again. At no point has she been over-awed by any occasion so it's all on the table. We wouldn't be afraid to travel her, either. There's plenty for her [next year] which would be a big attraction.”
He added, “Obviously she has a very good physical constitution to go with a good, hardy attitude. There wasn't any point in the year that we were going at her too hard. She took everything in her stride and never had any real physical issues in her two- or three-year-old career. She'd be one of those you'd be hoping can keep on rolling all year.”
Of course, You Got To Me has already achieved enough to be rated one of the best fillies in training. She went from strength to strength in 2024, beginning her campaign with victory in the Listed Lingfield Oaks Trial before claiming that career highlight in the Irish Oaks on just the sixth start of her career.
All told, You Got To Me has won three of her eight starts and achieved an official rating of 113. Other notable performances include a gallant second to Content (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the Yorkshire Oaks back in August.
Reflecting on You Got To Me's season, Beckett said, “She kept coming out of her races very well-she's a tough girl. When she won the Lingfield Oaks Trial, she ran away with Hector [Crouch] for most of it. In the Oaks itself, she travelled really well but perhaps didn't quite get home [to finish fourth] on that ground. I felt afterwards that it was ground more than anything. It was still a sound run and then, in the Ribblesdale, she was very keen but still ran through the line to finish fourth. Obviously we put the tongue-strap on her in Ireland and that made a much more tractable footnote in the Irish Oaks and in York for the Yorkshire Oaks. For a filly to do that–five starts between May and August–, that's pretty good going.”
On that memorable Irish Oaks triumph, he added, “It felt like we had to run because the way the race had fallen out. It felt like a really good fit for her. With her being as hardy as she is, the travelling wasn't going to bother her and, the way she takes her races, that wasn't going to bother her either. The track was always going to suit and they went a good gallop–that was always going to suit as well. All of those things came together.”
Bred by Dullingham Park Stud & Sarabexm, You Got To Me was initially purchased by BBA Ireland for 62,000gns as a foal at the Tattersalls December Foal Sale in 2021. Offered by Glenvale Stud at the Tattersalls October Book 1 Yearling Sale, she was acquired by Alex Elliott on behalf of Valmont for 200,000gns. Newsells bought into the filly during her three-year-old campaign.
Speaking about her physical and mental attributes, Beckett concluded, “She was a big, scopey filly at two and she filled her frame throughout the year. There wasn't any point where I thought, 'this filly is going to go light on us.' That didn't happen. With her size and scope, and the way she's made, you'd expect her to develop between three to four–particularly off the back of a long break, which she'll have had before she goes into the ring.”
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