Bethrah (foaled 21 March 2007) is an Irish

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...

racehorse and

broodmare A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than four ...

best known for winning the

Irish 1,000 Guineas The Irish 1,000 Guineas is a Group 1 flat horse race in Ireland open to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run at the Curragh over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 metres), and it is scheduled to ...

in 2010. After finishing unplaced on her only run as a two-year-old she reached her peak in the following spring, winning a

maiden race In horse racing a maiden race is an event for horses that have not won a race. Horses that have not won a race are referred to as maidens. Maiden horse races are held over a variety of distances and under conditions with eligibility based on the se ...

and the

Derrinstown Stud 1,000 Guineas Trial The Irish 1,000 Guineas Trial is a Group races, Group 3 Flat racing, flat Horse racing, horse race in Ireland open to three-year-old thoroughbred Filly, fillies. It is run over a distance ...

before taking the Irish 1000 Guineas. She was well beaten in her only subsequent race and was retired at the end of the year.

Background

Bethrah is a brown mare with a small white

star A star is an astronomical object comprising a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by its gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked ...

and a white

sock A sock is a piece of clothing worn on the feet and often covering the ankle or some part of the calf. Some types of shoes or boots are typically worn over socks. In ancient times, socks were made from leather or matted animal hair. In the late ...

on her left hind leg, bred in Ireland by Tullpark Ltd. As a foal in December 2007 she was put up for auction at Tattersalls but was bought back by Tullpark when the bidding stopped at 34,000 guineas. In September of the following year the

yearling Yearling may refer to: *Yearling (horse), a horse between one and two years old *''The Yearling ''The Yearling'' is a novel by American writer Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, published in March 1938. It was the main selection of the Book of the Mo ...

filly was entered in the Goffs Millian Sale and was bought for €160, 000 by

Hamdan Al Maktoum Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum ( ar, حمدان بن راشد أل مكتوم, '; 25 December 1945 – 24 March 2021) was an Emirati politician, the deputy ruler of Dubai and the minister of finance and industry of the United Arab Emirates ...

's Shadwell Estate. She was sent ito training with

Dermot Weld Dermot K. Weld (born 29 July 1948), a former jockey is one of Ireland's most successful racehorse trainers. He holds the record for the most winners trained in Ireland (2,578 set in August 2000). Weld maintains his stable, Rosewell House, in C ...

and was ridden in all of her races by

Pat Smullen Patrick Joseph Smullen (22 May 1977 – 15 September 2020), was an Irish jockey who won the Irish flat racing Champion Jockey title nine times. In a career running from 1992 to 2018 he rode 1,845 winners in Ireland and 47 in Britain. Amongst his ...

. She was sired by the Irish stallion Marju who finished second in The Derby and won the St James's Palace Stakes in 1991. Marju sired several other major winners including

Soviet Song Soviet Song (18 February 2000 – 16 November 2015) was a racehorse bred and owned by Elite Racing Club. She was foaled on 18 February 2000, sired by Marju (IRE) out of Kalinka (IRE) (Soviet Star). She raced in England, Ireland and France dur ...

My Emma My Emma (foaled 19 March 1993) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. She was lightly campaigned, making only eight racecourse appearances in three seasons. After finishing unplaced on her only start as a two-year-old she began her ...

, Viva Pataca, Indigenous and

Satono Crown Satono Crown ( ja, サトノクラウン, link=no, foaled 10 March 2012) is a Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse. He showed promising form as a two-year-old in 2014, winning both of his races including the Grade 3 Tokyo Sports Hai Nisai Stakes. As ...

. Bethrah's dam Reve d'Iman showed little ability as a racehorse, finishing unplaced in all of her eight races. She was descendant of the influential British broodmare Point Duty (foaled 1926) who is the ancestor of many major winners including

Sodium Sodium is a chemical element with the symbol Na (from Latin ''natrium'') and atomic number 11. It is a soft, silvery-white, highly reactive metal. Sodium is an alkali metal, being in group 1 of the periodic table. Its only stable iso ...

Horse Chestnut The genus ''Aesculus'' ( or ), with species called buckeye and horse chestnut, comprises 13–19 species of flowering plants in the family Sapindaceae. They are trees and shrubs native to the temperate Northern Hemisphere, with six species n ...

and Madelia.

Racing career

2009: two-year-old season

On her only appearance as a two-year-old Bethrah was one of twenty horses to contest the Goffs Million Sprint over six

furlongs A furlong is a measure of distance in imperial units and United States customary units equal to one eighth of a mile, equivalent to 660 feet, 220 yards, 40 rods, 10 chains or approximately 201 metres. It is now mostly confined to use in hors ...

at the

Curragh The Curragh ( ; ga, An Currach ) is a flat open plain of almost of common land in County Kildare. This area is well known for Irish horse breeding and training. The Irish National Stud is located on the edge of Kildare town, beside the ...

on 27 September. Starting at odds of 20/1 she was reluctant to enter the stalls and finished tenth, behind the British-trained Lucky General, beaten six and a quarter

lengths Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a base unit for length is chosen, from which all other units are derived. In the Intern ...

by the winner.

2010: three-year-old season

Bethrah made her three-year-old debut in a

over seven furlongs at

Limerick Racecourse Limerick Racecourse (Greenmount Park) is a horse racing venue in County Limerick, Ireland, which stages both National Hunt and flat racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by ...

on 13 April and started the 4/9 favourite against five opponents. She took the lead from the start and drew away in the straight to win "comfortably" by three and a half lengths from Queen Commander. On 9 May the filly was stepped up in class and distance for the

Group Three AP Films or APF, later becoming Century 21 Productions, was a British independent film production company of the 1950s until the early 1970s. The company became internationally known for its imaginative children's action-adventure marionette tel ...

over a mile at

Leopardstown Racecourse Leopardstown Racecourse is an Ireland, Irish horse-racing venue, located in Leopardstown, Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, 8 km south of the Dublin city centre. Like the majority of Irish courses, it hosts both National Hunt and Flat racing. Th ...

. The joint-favourites were the Jim Bolger-trained Atasari (runner-up in the

Rockfel Stakes The Rockfel Stakes is a Group races, Group 2 Flat racing, flat Horse racing, horse race in Great Britain open to two-year-old Filly, fillies. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket Racecourse, New ...

) and the

David Wachman David Wachman (born 5 July 1971) is a retired Irish racehorse trainer who specialised in flat racing. Before taking out his own licence to train horses, Wachman worked for trainers in Ireland (Jessica Harrington, Michael Hourigan and Jim Bolger) ...

-trained Picture Perfect with Bethrah the third choice in the betting on 5/1. After racing in fourth place she made steady progress in the straight, caught Atasari in the final strides and won by a neck. Two weeks after her win at Leopardstown Bethrah started a 16/1 outsider in a nineteen-runner field for the Irish 1000 Guineas on good to firm ground at the Curragh. The British-trained filly Music Show started the 3/1 favourite ahead of Gile Na Greine (third in the

1000 Guineas The 1000 Guineas Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old fillies. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 ...

) and Lolly For Dolly ( Athasi Stakes) while the other runners included Lillie Langtry, Anna Salai (

Prix de la Grotte The Prix de la Grotte is a Group 3 flat horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run over a distance of 1,600 metres (about 1 mile) at Longchamp in Apr ...

), Termagant ( Moyglare Stud Stakes), Lady Springbank (

C L Weld Park Stakes The Weld Park Stakes is a Group 3 flat horse race in Ireland open to two-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run at the Curragh over a distance of 7 furlongs (1,408 metres), and it is scheduled ...

Leopardstown 1,000 Guineas Trial Stakes The Leopardstown 1,000 Guineas Trial Stakes is a Group 3 flat horse race in Ireland open to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run over a distance of 7 furlongs (1,408 metres ...

), Song of My Heart (

Blenheim Stakes The Blenheim Stakes is a Conditions races, Listed Flat racing, flat Horse racing, horse race in Ireland open to thoroughbreds aged two years only. It is run at Fairyhouse Racecourse, Fairyhouse over a dista ...

) and Atasari. The

pacemaker An artificial cardiac pacemaker (or artificial pacemaker, so as not to be confused with the natural cardiac pacemaker) or pacemaker is a medical device that generates electrical impulses delivered by electrodes to the chambers of the heart eith ...

s Full of Hope and Queen of Troy made the running before Anna Salai went to the front a furlong and a half from the finish. At this point Bethrah, who had raced towards racing towards the rear of the field and been in eleventh place at half way, began to make rapid progress and was then switched to the right to make her challenge. In a "blanket finish" Bethrah caught Anna Salai in the final strides and won by a head with Music Show, Remember When and Lillie Langtry just behind: the first five finishers were covered by three quarters of a length. After the race Weld said "She is tough and very genuine, and has progressed over the winter. We’ve done a lot of work with her at the stalls, and she is a lot more confident these days and went in perfectly today". Discussing her future targets he added "we'll make a plan from there but she might go 10 furlongs next as I don't see her just limited to a mile". After a break of over three months Bethrah returned in the Matron Stakes at Leopardstown on 4 September. After racing in third place she was unable to make any progress in the straight and finished fifth of the six runners behind Lillie Langtry.

Breeding record

At the end of her racing career Bethrah became a broodmare for her owner's

Shadwell Stud Shadwell Racing is the Thoroughbred horse racing operations of Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Introduced to Thoroughbred flat racing while a student in the United Kingdom, Sheikh Hamdan estab ...

: *Hawraa, a brown filly, foaled in 2012, sired by

Dansili Dansili (27 January 1996 – 22 December 2021) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse. He won five races, including the Prix du Muguet. After retiring from racing he became a successful stallion, with his progeny including Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe ...

*Alsinaafy, bay colt, 2013, by Oasis Dream. Unraced. *Aldhara, bay filly, 2014, by

Dubawi Dubawi (foaled 7 February 2002) is a retired Thoroughbred racehorse and active sire. Background Dubawi is a bay horse with no white markings bred in Ireland by Sheikh Mohammed's Darley Stud. He was one of the only crop of foals sired by Dubai ...

. Unraced. *Mujid, bay colt, 2015, by Frankel

Pedigree

References

{{Reflist 2007 racehorse births Racehorses bred in Ireland Racehorses trained in Ireland Thoroughbred family 1-p Irish Classic Race winners