TRUE Self brought the Irish weather with her to Saudi Arabia last Saturday and the sprinkling of rain helped this remarkable Willie Mullins-trained mare to win the $1 million Neom Turf Cup.

An eight-year-old mare by the National Hunt stallion Oscar, True Self started life in a Warwick bumper for her breeder Don Cantillon before being sold privately for small money to Patrick Mullins in late 2016.

Since then she has progressed from bumpers to hurdles and by 2018 she was winning listed races on the flat.

A year later she was winning at Group 3 level in Australia and she won the same Flemington race last November, her most recent start before last Saturday’s outing in a 10-and-a-half-furlong conditions race, worth over €500,000 to the winner.

Adding to the Saudi fairytale was the fact that leading British jockey Hollie Doyle was in the saddle – a breakthrough big race win for a female rider in that country.

Knowing that her mount would have plenty of stamina, Doyle allowed For The Top to take the field along before American hope Channel Maker and jockey Joel Rosario made their move along the back stretch.

Doyle timed it to perfection, coming past Rosario with 50 metres left to run. The partnership was a length and a quarter clear at the post.

“It’s great to get the new year off in a prestigious race such as this,” said Doyle. “I watched all her performances and a step back in trip was a very clever move by Mr Mullins. They set a generous gallop the whole way round, but I managed to track them and got the splits up the straight. Willie said she’s got one burst of speed and that’s what she had.”

Mullins, speaking from home, said: “We bought her originally as a mare to go hurdling with but she just has a huge amount of speed and all the jockeys who rode her said a mile and a quarter would suit her.

“The two plans this year were here and Australia at the end of the year. I’ll have to talk to the owners, OTI Racing, to decide what else we do.”