IT was a very satisfactory start to Make Believe’s stud career in 2019 as he was among the top 10 first-crop sires in Europe with 16 individual winners of 23 races and earnings of over €430,000.

His daughter Rose Of Kildare won five races, including the Group 3 Oh So Sharp Stakes at Newmarket and the Group 3 Firth of Clyde Stakes at Ayr; Ocean Fantasy scored in the Group 3 Preis der Winterkonigin at Baden-Baden, and Tammani was a listed winner at Deauville.

Retired to Ballylinch Stud in 2016, Make Believe was one of the best three-year-olds in France the previous year when he defeated subsequent French Derby star New Bay in the Group 1 Poule d’Essai des Poulains (the French 2000 Guineas), and he later added the Group 1 Prix de la Foret, in which he set a new record time.

A lightly raced two-year-old, Make Believe easily won both his starts at that age over 1,500 metres, the Prix de Saint Desir at Deauville and the Prix Tanerko at Saint-Cloud. On his reappearance in 2015 he was second in the Group 3 Prix Djebel, beaten only a head, and then in the Poule d’Essai des Poulains he beat New Bay, with Highland Reel and Muhaarar unplaced.

Returning to Longchamp in October, Make Believe won the Group 1 Prix de la Foret from Limato and Toormore, before ending his racing career with a creditable fifth in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Mile at Keeneland.

Make Believe’s sire Makfi was the champion three-year-old miler in Europe when he defeated Dick Turpin and Canford Cliffs in the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket, and then won the Group 1 Prix Jacques Le Marois. He is sire of 30 individual blacktype winners, including Bonneval and Sofia Rosa, who both won the Group 1 Australian Oaks, as well as the New Zealand Group 1 winner Marky Mark.

Make Believe’s three-parts sister Dubawi Heights, a daughter of Dubawi, was a star in California where she won the Grade 1 Yellow Ribbon Stakes at Santa Anita and the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes at Hollywood. She is a broodmare in Japan where she has produced Group 2 winner Liberty Heights.

She and Make Believe are among five winners out of the Suave Dancer mare Rosie’s Posy, who is a half-sister to the Group 1 Haydock Sprint Cup victress Tante Rose. The next dam My Branch was also very speedy, winning two listed races and third in the Irish 1000 Guineas.

MAKE BELIEVE (GB), Bay 2012. Top rated 3yr old miler in France in 2015. Won four races, £462,855, from 7 furlongs to 1 mile, at 2 and 3 years including, Poule d’Essai des Poulains P.le Parisien, Longchamp, Gr.1, Qatar Prix de la Foret, Longchamp, Gr.1, also placed second in Prix Djebel, Maisons-Laffitte, Gr.3.

Retired to Stud in 2016, and sire of the winners of 24 races, and £381,992, including OCEAN FANTASY (FR), ROSE OF KILDARE (IRE), TAMMANI (GB)

Stands at: Ballylinch Stud, Thomastown, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland

Contact: John O’Connor

Telephone: +353 (0) 56 7724217

Email: info@ballylinchstud.ie

Web: www.ballylinchstud.com

Fee: €12,000