Believe You Can (USA)
March 3, 2009 – Living
Proud Citizen (USA) x El Fasto (USA), by El Prado (IRE)
Family 3-i
March 3, 2009 – Living
Proud Citizen (USA) x El Fasto (USA), by El Prado (IRE)
Family 3-i
The second of two Kentucky Oaks (USA-G1) winners sired by Proud Citizen, Believe You Can defied 13-1 odds and lived up to her name when she won the “Lilies for the Fillies.” Her spring form was good enough to make her a nominee for an Eclipse Award in a year with a rather weak American sophomore filly division but was not good enough for championship honors.
Race record
14 starts, 8 wins, 0 seconds, 2 thirds, US$1,280,324
2011:
2012:
2013:
Honors
Eclipse Award finalist, American champion 3-year-old filly (2012)
Assessments
Rated at 111 pounds on the Experimental Free Handicap for American juvenile fillies of 2011, 13 pounds below champion My Miss Aurelia.
Rated at 117 pounds on the 2012 World’s Best Racehorse Rankings, 13 pounds below top-rated female Black Caviar (an unbeaten champion in Australia) and 2 pounds below American champion 3-year-old filly Questing, who earned a 119-pound rating for her performances in the Alabama Stakes (USA-G1) and the Cotillion Stakes (USA-G2).
As an individual
A dark bay or brown mare with a distinctive heart-shaped star, Believe You Can did her best running on or near the pace. She was at her best in the spring of the year but seemed unable to engage in long, sustained campaigns; normally a brilliant and competitive worker, she would signal her disinterest in continued racing with a lack of enthusiasm in her morning works.
As a producer
As of September 5, 2023, Believe You Can has produced five named foals of racing age; all five have started and two have won. Her important foals are as follow:
Connections
Foaled in Kentucky, Believe You Can was bred and owned by Brereton Jones, who retained the filly for racing after she failed to reach her reserve on a US$70,000 bid at the 2010 Keeneland September yearling sale. She was trained by Larry Jones and was ridden to her Kentucky Oaks score by Rosie Napravnik. She was entered into the 2014 Fasig-Tipton November mixed sale but failed to change hands on a bid of US$4.9 million, remaining the property of Brereton Jones.
Pedigree notes
Believe You Can is inbred 4x5 to 1966 American Horse of the Year and four-time champion broodmare sire Buckpasser and 5x5x6 to Buckpasser’s sire, Tom Fool, the 1953 American Horse of the Year. She is also inbred 5x5 to 1958 Canadian Horse of the Year Nearctic and the important broodmare Natalma through Arctic Dancer, the third dam of Proud Citizen, and her full brother Northern Dancer, paternal grandsire of her broodmare sire El Prado.
Believe You Can is out of El Fasto, an unraced half sister to juvenile Grade 2 winner Classic Elegance (by Carson City) and stakes winner Contributor (by Medaglia d’Oro). El Fasto, in turn, is out of the winning Halo mare Taegu, a half sister to Grade 3 winner Chorwon (by Cozzene), multiple listed stakes winner Yukon Robbery (by Yukon), and stakes winner Kumwha (by His Majesty). Taegu is also a half sister to Seoul (by Deputy Minister), dam of Canadian Grade 2 winner Rush Bay (by Cozzene) and second dam of Grade 2 winner Itsaknockout, and to Restless One (by Dixieland Band), dam of stakes winner Explain (by Broken Vow).
Taegu and her siblings are out of stakes-placed Nomo Robbery (by No Robbery), a half sister to Grade 3 winner Basket Weave (by Best Turn) and to Picnic Basket (by Tom Rolfe), dam of restricted stakes winner Antsinmypants (by Meadow Flight). The next dam in Believe You Can’s tail-female line is the unraced Buckpasser mare Pass the Basket, whose stakes-placed dam Royal Picnic (by 1962 Hopeful Stakes winner Outing Class) is a half sister to 1968 Excelsior Handicap and Tropical Park Handicap winner Peter Piper (by Tom Fool).
Fun facts
Photo credit
Photo taken by Jessica Morgan in 2012 during workouts for Oaks contenders at Churchill Downs. Larry Jones up. Used by permission.
Last updated: September 5, 2023
Race record
14 starts, 8 wins, 0 seconds, 2 thirds, US$1,280,324
2011:
- Won Tempted Stakes (USA-G3, 6FD, Belmont)
2012:
- Won Kentucky Oaks (USA-G1, 9FD, Churchill Downs)
- Won Fair Grounds Oaks (USA-G2, 8.5FD, Fair Grounds)
- Won Silverbulletday Stakes (USA-L, 8F+70yD, Fair Grounds)
- 3rd Mother Goose Stakes (USA-G1, 8.5FD, Belmont)
2013:
- Won New Orleans Ladies Stakes (USA-L, 8.5FD, Fair Grounds)
- Won Tiffany Lass Stakes (USA, 8.5FD, Fair Grounds)
- 3rd La Troienne Stakes (USA-G2, Churchill Downs)
Honors
Eclipse Award finalist, American champion 3-year-old filly (2012)
Assessments
Rated at 111 pounds on the Experimental Free Handicap for American juvenile fillies of 2011, 13 pounds below champion My Miss Aurelia.
Rated at 117 pounds on the 2012 World’s Best Racehorse Rankings, 13 pounds below top-rated female Black Caviar (an unbeaten champion in Australia) and 2 pounds below American champion 3-year-old filly Questing, who earned a 119-pound rating for her performances in the Alabama Stakes (USA-G1) and the Cotillion Stakes (USA-G2).
As an individual
A dark bay or brown mare with a distinctive heart-shaped star, Believe You Can did her best running on or near the pace. She was at her best in the spring of the year but seemed unable to engage in long, sustained campaigns; normally a brilliant and competitive worker, she would signal her disinterest in continued racing with a lack of enthusiasm in her morning works.
As a producer
As of September 5, 2023, Believe You Can has produced five named foals of racing age; all five have started and two have won. Her important foals are as follow:
- Believe in Royalty (2015, by Tapit) won the 2018 Ellis Park Derby and was runner-up in the 2018 Oklahoma Derby (USA-G3). He entered stud in 2020 in Puerto Rico.
- Conclude (2020, by Collected) has won three stakes races including the 2023 Caesars Palace Del Mar Derby (USA-G2).
Connections
Foaled in Kentucky, Believe You Can was bred and owned by Brereton Jones, who retained the filly for racing after she failed to reach her reserve on a US$70,000 bid at the 2010 Keeneland September yearling sale. She was trained by Larry Jones and was ridden to her Kentucky Oaks score by Rosie Napravnik. She was entered into the 2014 Fasig-Tipton November mixed sale but failed to change hands on a bid of US$4.9 million, remaining the property of Brereton Jones.
Pedigree notes
Believe You Can is inbred 4x5 to 1966 American Horse of the Year and four-time champion broodmare sire Buckpasser and 5x5x6 to Buckpasser’s sire, Tom Fool, the 1953 American Horse of the Year. She is also inbred 5x5 to 1958 Canadian Horse of the Year Nearctic and the important broodmare Natalma through Arctic Dancer, the third dam of Proud Citizen, and her full brother Northern Dancer, paternal grandsire of her broodmare sire El Prado.
Believe You Can is out of El Fasto, an unraced half sister to juvenile Grade 2 winner Classic Elegance (by Carson City) and stakes winner Contributor (by Medaglia d’Oro). El Fasto, in turn, is out of the winning Halo mare Taegu, a half sister to Grade 3 winner Chorwon (by Cozzene), multiple listed stakes winner Yukon Robbery (by Yukon), and stakes winner Kumwha (by His Majesty). Taegu is also a half sister to Seoul (by Deputy Minister), dam of Canadian Grade 2 winner Rush Bay (by Cozzene) and second dam of Grade 2 winner Itsaknockout, and to Restless One (by Dixieland Band), dam of stakes winner Explain (by Broken Vow).
Taegu and her siblings are out of stakes-placed Nomo Robbery (by No Robbery), a half sister to Grade 3 winner Basket Weave (by Best Turn) and to Picnic Basket (by Tom Rolfe), dam of restricted stakes winner Antsinmypants (by Meadow Flight). The next dam in Believe You Can’s tail-female line is the unraced Buckpasser mare Pass the Basket, whose stakes-placed dam Royal Picnic (by 1962 Hopeful Stakes winner Outing Class) is a half sister to 1968 Excelsior Handicap and Tropical Park Handicap winner Peter Piper (by Tom Fool).
Fun facts
- Believe You Can was named for a favorite saying of Brereton Jones’s father, who frequently said, “Believe you can, and you can.”
- Believe You Can’s Kentucky Oaks win made jockey Rosie Napravnik the first woman to ride a winner of the filly Classic. It was also Napravnik’s first Grade 1 win.
Photo credit
Photo taken by Jessica Morgan in 2012 during workouts for Oaks contenders at Churchill Downs. Larry Jones up. Used by permission.
Last updated: September 5, 2023