Multiple Grade 1 winner Bellafina was scheduled to have a farewell start in the upcoming Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Keeneland, but trainer Simon Callaghan told the Daily Racing Form that it would not come to be, owing to a “minor issue.”
The 4-year-old daughter of Quality Road will instead prepare for her first mating in 2021 with champion Uncle Mo, a resident of Ashford Stud in Versailles, Ky., who has rapidly become one of North America's top commercial sires.
Owned by Kaleem Shah and the Coolmore partnership, Bellafina has won seven of 18 career starts for earnings of $1,617,975. She was one of the top juvenile fillies of 2018, notching victories in the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante Stakes and G1 Chandelier Stakes, as well as the G2 Sorrento Stakes.
Bellafina then won her first three starts as a 3-year-old, taking the G2 Santa Ynez Stakes, G2 Las Virgenes Stakes, and G1 Santa Anita Oaks. Later that year, she finished second in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.
The filly's 4-year-old campaign included a victory in the G3 Desert Stormer Stakes, and runner-up efforts in the G1 Ballerina Stakes and G2 Great Lady M Stakes.
Uncle Mo, a 12-year-old son of Indian Charlie, stands at Coolmore's Ashford Stud for an advertised fee of $175,000.
His initial crop of runners helped him set the record for progeny earnings by a freshman sire in 2015, led by Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner and champion Nyquist. The same horse won the following year's Kentucky Derby. Since then, Uncle Mo has established himself as one of the breed's most reliable sources for high-level runners and high-dollar auction horses.
The standout SoCal filly Bellafina won't run in the @BreedersCup Filly-Mare Sprint and has been retired, per @simon_callaghan. “Minor issue” precluded her from one final start. G1-winning earner of $1.6M goes to Uncle Mo early next year.
— Marty McGee (@DRFMcGee) October 28, 2020
The post Grade 1 Winner Bellafina Out Of Breeders’ Cup, To Be Bred To Uncle Mo In 2021 appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
