Believe (horse)

Believe
ビリーヴ
Believe at her retirement ceremony at Kyoto Racecourse in 2003
BreedThoroughbred
SireSunday Silence
GrandsireHalo
DamGreat Christine
DamsireDanzig
SexMare
Foaled (1998-04-26) 26 April 1998[1]
CountryJapan
ColorBay
BreederUemizu Bokujo
OwnerKoji Maeda
Racing colors
TrainerShigeki Matsumoto
Record28: 10-3-5
Earnings¥460,313,000[2]
Major wins
Centaur Stakes (2002)
Sprinters Stakes (2002)
Takamatsunomiya Kinen (2003)
Hakodate Sprint Stakes (2003)[1]
Awards
JRA Award for Best Older Filly or Mare (2003)[1]

Believe (Japanese: ビリーヴ, Hepburn: Birīvu, foaled 26 April 1998) is a retired Japanese Thoroughbred racemare who was active from the early 2000s. She was known for winning the Sprinters Stakes in 2002 and the Takamatsunomiya Kinen in 2003. In her final season, she was awarded the JRA Award for Best Older Filly or Mare. Her total earnings were ¥460,313,000.[1][2]

Background

Believe is a bay mare foaled on 26 April 1998 by Great Christine, a daughter of Danzig. She was sired by Sunday Silence, the leading sire in Japan from 1995 until 2007.

She was purchased for ¥63,000,000 at the 1998 JRA Select Sale.[2]

Racing career

2000: two-year-old season

She made her debut under Yuichi Fukunaga on November 11 when she led the race from the start and won by two and half lengths over Mad Party.[3] She raced once again one month later, finishing in sixth place.[1] In her second race, Fukunaga stated that "1600 meters is a little too long for her. 1400 meters would be better," which foreshadowed that all her future wins would come in 1200-meter races.[4]

2001: three-year-old season

In 2001, Believe started in eight races and managed to win two and finish in third place twice.[1] Her win for the year came at one three-year-old allowance race in May and also the Daigo Tokubetsu in November.[5][6] She ran in two graded races for the year, the Flower Cup and Falcon Stakes, in which she disappointingly finished in eighth and ninth, respectively.[1] Considering Fukunaga ran her primarily in a front-running strategy to this point, he said, "If she can learn to run from behind, I'm looking forward to seeing what she can do in the future."[4]

2002: four-year-old season

At the beginning of this season, Believe started pretty well with three podium finishes under Fukunaga before switching the jockey to Katsumi Ando on her third season start.[1] For her fourth race of the year at the Yodobayashi Stakes, she went with Yasunari Iwata. This change worked as she was having a good race at third position before recorded the fastest final three furlong speed (alongside two others) to win the race by six lengths over Resurreccion.[7] She would be back to Fukunaga at the next race which would be Keio Hai Spring Cup and finished in third place, the first podium she got on a graded race.[8] Fukunaga then ride her for two more races and won the Sasebo Stakes in July before reassigned the job to Iwata again.[1] Iwata rode Believe to two more win at the Kitakyushu Tankyori Stakes and the Centaur Stakes, which was her first graded stakes win.[9]

On September 29, Believe would run at the Sprinters Stakes, which was her first grade 1 race start. This year edition would be held at the Niigata Racecourse instead of Nakayama.[10] Believe who was ridden by Yutaka Take this time around, settled in early phase on third position once the gate opened. Then, Take tried to squeeze between Shonan Kampf and Admire Cozzene but her path forward became narrow. Suddenly, the tide was over in an instant as Take masterfully changed the course to the inside and unleashed a burst of speed at the end. Both of the horses tried to recover but failed as Believe won her first G1 sprint race.[11][10] For the post race comment, Take said "It was a tight spot, but she didn't flinch and went into the pack. She's a really great horse. Please give the horse some praise today. I just rode her normally."[4] She closed her season with a run at the Hong Kong Sprint, in which she only managed to finish 12th-place in her first oversea race.[12]

2003: five-year-old season

She started the year with a run at the Hankyu Hai. In this race, she was unable to run well and only finished in ninth place behind the winner, Shonan Kampf.[1] Then in March, Believe ran at the Takamatsunomiya Kinen. Since the race coincided with the Dubai World Cup, Take, who was also assigned for Gold Allure, was unable to ride her for the day. The task was given instead to Ando, who rode her at the beginning of the previous season.[11] The race began with the first favourite, Shonan Kampf, storming into the lead whilst Believe followed closely behind in third place on the inside, marking him. The split time for the first 600 m was 32.9 seconds, which was really fast. At this pace, Shonan Kampf couldn't keep up as he fell down the order at the final 100 metres. As the horses that had been ahead dropped out one after another, Believe managed to make a strong finishing burst and crossed the finish line first.[11][13] This was Ando first grade 1 race win in his career and he became Believe main jockey for the rest of the season.[11]

Ando and Believe finished outside the podium at the next two races (eighth at the Keio Hai Spring Cup and 12th at the Yasuda Kinen). Then, she won at the Hakodate Sprint Stakes after securing a good position at the start and finished strongly two lengths in front of Agnes Sonic.[14] For her final two races of her career before retiring, she finished second at the two races she won the previous year which were the Centaur Stakes and Sprinters Stakes.[1] She lost both race by the slimmest of nose margin against Tenshino Kiseki and Durandal respectively.[15][16] At the end of the season, she was inaugurated with the best award for older filly and mare by the Japanese Racing Association.[17]

Racing record

Throughout her career, she won 10 out of her 28 races, two of which are G1 races. She also ran in Hong Kong Sprint but was unsuccessful. She was ridden by seven different jockeys.[18][19]

Date Track Race Grade Distance
(Condition)		 Bracket
(Position)		 Entry Odds
(Favored)		 Finish Time Margin Jockey Winner (Runner-up)
2000 – two-year-old season
Nov 11 Kyoto 2YO Debut 1200m (Firm) 2 (2) 12 1.5 (1) 1st 1:10.5 -0.4 Yuichi Fukunaga (Mad Party)
Dec 10 Hanshin 2YO ALW (1 Win) 1600m (Firm) 1 (1) 12 3.8 (2) 6th 1:36.6 0.7 Yuichi Fukunaga Millennium Bio
2001 – three-year-old season
Jan 6 Kyoto Wakana Sho ALW (1 Win) 1200m (Fast) 5 (10) 16 6.9 (3) 9th 1:14.8 0.3 Mikio Matsunaga Koei Marvelous
Jan 27 Kyoto Kanzakura Sho ALW (1 Win) 1200m (Heavy) 4 (8) 16 8.4 (4) 4th 1:12.1 0.5 Mikio Matsunaga Toyo Lincoln
Mar 17 Nakayama Flower Cup G3 1800m (Firm) 7 (14) 16 22.7 (11) 8th 1:51.0 0.8 Jotaro Horai Time Fair Lady
May 4 Kyoto Azusa Sho ALW (1 Win) 1600m (Firm) 8 (18) 18 6.9 (3) 3rd 1:34.9 0.2 Yuichi Fukunaga Soleil Dance
May 19 Chukyo 3YO ALW (1 Win) 1200m (Firm) 2 (4) 18 4.4 (2) 1st 1:08.3 -0.1 Yuichi Fukunaga (Gold Disc)
Jun 10 Chukyo Falcon Stakes G3 1200m (Firm) 3 (6) 17 19.9 (9) 9th 1:09.6 0.7 Yuichi Fukunaga Rusunai Christie
Nov 10 Kyoto Daigo Tokubetsu ALW (2 Win) 1200m (Firm) 2 (2) 13 8.5 (6) 1st 1:08.8 -0.2 Yuichi Fukunaga (Check the Luck)
Dec 15 Hanshin Sasegawa Stakes ALW (3 Win) 1600m (Firm) 6 (12) 16 8.5 (6) 3rd 1:34.2 0.3 Futoshi Komaki Meisho Kio
2002 – four-year-old season
Feb 17 Kyoto Yamashiro Stakes ALW (3 Win) 1200m (Firm) 2 (2) 10 3.7 (1) 2nd 1:08.2 0.4 Yuichi Fukunaga Shonan Kampf
Mar 10 Hanshin Mukogawa Stakes ALW (3 Win) 1600m (Firm) 8 (15) 15 5.3 (4) 3rd 1:34.0 0.8 Yuichi Fukunaga Grass World
Mar 24 Nakayama Funabashi Stakes ALW (1 Win) 1200m (Firm) 6 (6) 11 2.5 (1) 3rd 1:08.2 0.4 Katsumi Ando Happy Maximum
Apr 14 Hanshin Yodoyabashi Stakes ALW (3 Win) 1200m (Firm) 7 (14) 16 3.9 (1) 1st 1:07.7 -1.0 Yasunari Iwata (Resurreccion)
May 12 Tokyo Keio Hai Spring Cup G2 1400m (Firm) 8 (17) 18 14.9 (7) 3rd 1:20.5 0.2 Yuichi Fukunaga God of Chance
Jun 8 Chukyo TV Aichi Open OP 1200m (Firm) 5 (9) 18 1.9 (1) 7th 1:09.3 0.7 Yuichi Fukunaga Native Heart
Jul 20 Kokura Sasebo Stakes ALW (3 Win) 1200m (Firm) 8 (10) 11 1.9 (1) 1st 1:07.7 -0.1 Yuichi Fukunaga (Osumi Erst)
Aug 17 Kokura Kitakyushu Tankyori Stakes ALW (3 Win) 1200m (Firm) 6 (6) 10 2.0 (1) 1st 1:07.8 -0.4 Yasunari Iwata (Osumi Erst)
Sep 8 Hanshin Centaur Stakes G3 1200m (Firm) 1 (1) 12 2.0 (1) 1st 1:07.1 -0.7 Yasunari Iwata (Paian)
Sep 29 Niigata Sprinters Stakes G1 1200m (Firm) 4 (4) 11 2.2 (1) 1st 1:07.7 -0.1 Yutaka Take (Admire Cozzene)
Dec 15 Sha Tin Hong Kong Sprint G1 1000m (Firm) (11) 14 4.7 12th 0:58.1 1.7 Yutaka Take All Thrills Too
2003 – five-year-old season
Mar 2 Hanshin Hankyu Hai G3 1200m (Good) 6 (10) 15 3.7 (2) 9th 1:09.6 1.1 Yutaka Take Shonan Kampf
Mar 30 Chukyo Takamatsunomiya Kinen G1 1200m (Firm) 1 (1) 18 10.1 (3) 1st 1:08.1 -0.2 Katsumi Ando (Sunningdale)
May 18 Tokyo Keio Hai Spring Cup G2 1400m (Firm) 6 (9) 13 6.9 (4) 4th 1:21.8 0.8 Katsumi Ando Telegnosis
Jun 8 Tokyo Yasuda Kinen G1 1600m (Firm) 3 (5) 18 22.4 (9) 12th 1:32.8 0.7 Katsumi Ando Agnes Digital
Jul 6 Hakodate Hakodate Sprint Stakes G3 1200m (Firm) 6 (7) 11 1.7 (1) 1st 1:09.3 -0.3 Katsumi Ando (Agnes Sonic)
Sep 14 Hanshin Centaur Stakes G3 1200m (Firm) 2 (2) 13 1.8 (1) 2nd 1:07.8 0.0 Katsumi Ando Tenshino Kiseki
Oct 5 Nakayama Sprinters Stakes G1 1200m (Firm) 6 (11) 15 2.2 (1) 2nd 1:08.0 0.0 Katsumi Ando Durandal

  Turf   Dirt

Breeding career

Believe has foaled a total of 7 horses. Her leading progeny, Gendarme was the winner of the 2022 Sprinters Stakes and also her last foal.[1][20] This win marked the first occasion where a dam and her son won the same race, twenty years apart.[21]

An anthropomorphic personification of Believe appears in Umamusume: Pretty Derby, voiced by Misaki Akiyama.

Pedigree

Pedigree of Believe, bay mare, 26 April 1998[22]
Sire
Sunday Silence
br. 1986
(USA)		 Halo
dk.b. 1969
(USA)		 Hail To Reason (USA) Turn-to (IRE)
Nothirdchance (USA)
Cosmah (USA) Cosmic Bomb (USA)
Almahmoud (USA)
Wishing Well
b. 1975
(USA)		 Understanding (USA) Promised Land (USA)
Pretty Ways (USA)
Mountain Flower (USA) Montparnasse (ARG)
Edelweiss (USA)
Dam
Great Christine
b. 1987
(USA)		 Danzig
b. 1977
(USA)		 Northern Dancer (CAN) Nearctic (CAN)
Natalma (USA)
Pas de Nom (USA) Admiral's Voyage (USA)
Petitioner (GB)
Great Lady M.
gr. 1975
(USA)		 Icecapade (USA) Nearctic (CAN)
Shenanigans (USA)
Sovereign Lady (USA) Young Emperor (GB)
Sweety Kid (USA)
(Family: 22-d)

Inbreeding:

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "Believe | Horse Profile, Pedigree, Form, Race Record". en.netkeiba.com. NET DREAMERS, Co., Ltd. Retrieved 30 January 2026.
  2. 1 2 3 "Believe(JPN)". jbis.jp. Japan Bloodhorse Breeders' Association. Retrieved 30 January 2026.
  3. ↑ "2yo Debut Full Result | R4". netkeiba. 11 November 2000. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  4. 1 2 3 Yushun (in Japanese). September 2010. p. 157, 159.
  5. ↑ "3yo ALW (1 Win) Full Result | R6". netkeiba. 19 May 2001. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  6. ↑ "Daigo Tokubetsu Full Result | R12". netkeiba. 10 November 2001. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  7. ↑ "Yodobayashi Stakes Full Result | R11". netkeiba. 14 April 2002. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  8. ↑ "Keio Hai Spring Cup (G2) Full Result | R11". netkeiba. 12 May 2002. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  9. ↑ "Centaur Stakes (G3) Full Result | R11". netkeiba. 8 September 2002. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  10. 1 2 "Sprinters Stakes (G1) Full Result | R11". netkeiba. 29 September 2002. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  11. 1 2 3 4 "ビリーヴ〜数々の『初制覇』を運んだ名スプリンター〜" [Believe - A legendary sprinter who has brought countless "first victories" to his team]. ウマフリ | 競馬コラム＆ニュース (in Japanese). 26 April 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  12. ↑ "The Hong Kong Sprint Results - Race 3". racing.hkjc.com. 15 December 2002. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  13. ↑ "Takamatsunomiya Kinen (G1) Full Result | R11". netkeiba. 30 March 2003. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  14. ↑ "Hakodate Sprint Stakes (G3) Full Result | R11". netkeiba. 6 July 2003. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  15. ↑ "Centaur Stakes (G3) Full Result | R11". netkeiba. 14 September 2003. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  16. ↑ "Sprinters Stakes (G1) Full Result | R11". netkeiba. 5 October 2003. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  17. ↑ Taiga, Nakagawa (12 January 2003). "「そういえば、ビリーヴは牝馬やったな」から20年…「JRA賞」の栄誉は孫世代へ" ["Come to think of it, Believe was a mare," said a 20-year-old... The honor of the "JRA Award" is now passed on to the grandchildren's generation.]. GJ | 真剣勝負の裏にある真実に斬り込むニュースサイト (in Japanese). Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  18. ↑ "Believe Race Record and Form". en.netkeiba.com. NET DREAMERS, Co., Ltd. Retrieved 30 January 2026.
  19. ↑ "Race Records | Believe(JPN)". jbis.jp. Japan Bloodhorse Breeders' Association. Retrieved 30 January 2026.
  20. ↑ "Family | Believe (JPN)". www.jbis.jp. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  21. ↑ "【スプリンターズS結果情報】人馬ともに初GI！ ジャンダルムが鮮やかに抜け出し親子制覇!" [[Sprinters Stakes Results] First GI race for both horse and rider! Gendarme pulls ahead brilliantly to achieve a father-son victory!]. netkeiba (in Japanese). 2 October 2022. Retrieved 28 April 2026.
  22. ↑ "Five-generation Pedigree Table | Pedigree | Believe(JPN)". jbis.jp. Japan Bloodhorse Breeders' Association. Retrieved 30 January 2026.
This page is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.