‘She hit her head on a wall, did her pelvis and her mother died an hour after she was born’ - how a tale of misfortune ended with sprinting star Believing

A sense of humour is necessary for those experiencing the tribulations of being a small breeder. That Mattie Smith owns a dry one becomes obvious when noticing the name of the mare who has brought his Cloneymore Farm to prominence through Friday's progressive King George Qatar Stakes challenger Believing: Misfortunate.

"She never raced, she flipped over as a foal, hit her head on the wall and was lying on the ground for a while," Smith explains of his unraced 11-year-old by Kodiac.

"She got up and she always held her head a bit sideways afterwards, she was just a bit funny in her head. We kept with her, she actually also did her pelvis as well as a foal, stood in for three months.

"Her mother had died an hour after she was born, so that added to the misfortune as well."

It isn’t entirely a tale of doom and gloom. Smith, who runs a small stud in Athboy, County Meath, and members of the Mullen family, close friends who have always had an involvement in the horses, have enjoyed treasured moments of their own as owners and managed to turn over profit from various judicious coverings to keep the adventure going.

Smith bought Believing’s granddam Evictress for the sum of Ir£3,200. The mare by Sharp Victor had some minor place form in Ireland but traced back to Melodist, who dead-heated with Diminuendo in the 1988 Irish Oaks, and her half-sister Love Sign, a top-class dirt mare in America.

Miss Sally was a fine sprinting mare from the same family

"I bought her in Goffs, it was the February Sale in 1996," says Smith.

"She was coming from a Cleaboy Stud dispersal, [stud owner] Patrick Clarke had died and I just liked her that day.

"It’s been a great family to us, her other sister was a mare called Miss Sally who myself and my partner raced, she was quite good. Evictress had another good horse who ended up a National Hunt horse, Quazar [who won the Punchestown Champion Hurdle for Jonjo O’Neill].

"He couldn’t win on the Flat but was very tough and it was great he went on and did what he did."

Believing shares more similarity with Miss Sally, who has not been an exceptional broodmare herself, but won the Group 3 Brownstown and the Concorde Stakes at around seven furlongs and other black-type titles over six in the colours of Hilary Mullen.

Misfortunate was one of just a few fillies in Evictress’s brood that the Mullens and Smiths tried to breed from.

Believing, her second foal, was from the third crop of Mehmas at a time he was standing for €10,000 and she made 70,000gns when offered through Baroda Stud as a yearling at Tattersalls Book 2.

Her value shot up to 115,000gns when Highclere bought her at the Tattersalls Craven Breeze-Up Sale from Kilminfoyle House Stud

"She was a very nice filly, lovely," recalls Smith. "She made 70,000gns in Newmarket, I thought at the time maybe she might make a bit more, but on the day that’s what she made. It was a cheap cover and we had a few quid left by her, so it was all good."

Believing made an early mark at Listed level in the Chelmer Fillies' Stakes in April 2023Credit: Justin Setterfield/Getty

Believing ran eight times at two for George Boughey, winning at Wolverhampton on her second start in May 2022 and later finishing second in the Group 3 Sirenia Stakes and the Firth of Clyde.

As a three-year-old she would strike three times in black-type company, most notably in the Group 3 Prix Texanita, but appears to have improved again this season by running away with the Achilles Stakes at Haydock and finishing fourth in both the King Charles III and Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot. She followed up with her biggest win, controlling the Sapphire Stakes at the Curragh for just about its entirety.

"We’re delighted," says Smith. "She was quite impressive last time and hopefully she can go on to win a Group 1."

Reaching the heights of a Group 2, as she did at the Curragh, is a personal best for Cloneymore Stud, which was also behind the 2017 Richmond Stakes winner Barraquero.

Smith, whose day job is as a farrier at the likes of Tally-Ho and Lynn Lodge Studs, had every intention of seeing her in the flesh for the first time since he had her in her yearling days.

"I was just a bit whacked," he explains apologetically. "It had been a busy week so I watched it on television instead."

With Misfortune’s accursed name, you might already suspect there will be another twist. Just as Believing’s achievements began to allow any siblings for sale to benefit from reflected glory, they lost both the mare and her latest foal earlier this year.

"The foal was a Minzaal filly who I would have been tempted to keep and race," says Smith. "Believing does have a yearling half-brother by Inns Of Court [lot 279] going to the Somerville Sale, so we’ll hope for the best with him."

Richmond Stakes winner Barraquero was another to emerge through Cloneymore FarmCredit: Mark Cranham (racingpost.com/photos)

Given the open nature of this year’s sprint division, this likeable filly appear to have every chance of reaching the pinnacle.

Boughey has found Believing to thrive from regular racing, pitching her back in against Ascot first and third Asfoora and Big Evs on the Downs before events such as the Flying Five and the Breeders’ Cup Sprint come into her orbit.

Even if there will be little tangible benefit without much of the family left, it is entirely to Smith’s credit that he accepts the situation with good faith.

"We’ll try not to dwell on the misfortune, the family has been good to us," he says

"It’s just nice that a filly like this has come along to show what we can do."

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