Bellabel (Ire) (Belardo {Ire}), to be offered by Taylor Made, is cataloged as hip 251. A maiden winner in five Irish appearances at two, the dark bay relocated to the U.S. last year and was off to a quick start, with victories in the Blue Norther S. and–following a six-month absence–the GII San Clemente S. as the betting favorite. Bellabel was runner-up to the classy Spendarella (Karakontie {Jpn}) in the GI Del Mar Oaks and was last seen at the races in Keeneland's GI QE II Challenge Cup, staying on gamely for a third-place effort behind Gina Romantica. She is cataloged as a racing/broodmare prospect, but has been in steady work at Los Alamitos, where she has recorded no fewer than seven breezes since Sept. 3 and most recently drilled five furlongs Oct. 20.

Warrendale Sales consigns Lemon Belle (Lemon Drop Kid) to Keeneland November as hip 249. The 13-year-old is a daughter of MGSW Queenie Belle (Bertrando), making her a half-sister to GI Breeders' Cup Ladies' Classic winner Unrivaled Belle (Unbridled's Song), in turn the dam of multiple Eclipse Award winner Unique Bella (Tapit). Lemon Belle's sixth produce is Raise Cain (Violence), winner of this year's GIII Gotham S. and recent hero of the Listed Perryville S. at Keeneland. Lemon Belle sells in foal to boom stallion Justify.

Troublesome (Into Mischief) (hip 250) is part of the Woods Edge Farm draft and sells pregnant to Yaupon. The 9-year-old is the dam of Amidst Waves (Midshipman), winner of the Bolton Landing S. at Saratoga and the near-miss runner-up in the local Indian Summer S. Amidst Waves has been pre-entered for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint and sits first on the 'not-selected' list, but seems likely to gain a run given others' first preferences.

Keeneland has also announced the addition of 15 horses to the November Horse of Racing Age Sale, including MGSW millionaire 'TDN Rising Star' Smile Happy (Runhappy) from Gainesway, agent; and fellow 'Rising Star' Strobe (Into Mischief), multiple graded-placed this season and selling through Taylor Made. Both are being offered as racing/stallion prospects.

Keeneland will continue to accept entries up to the start of the sale.

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Among the yearlings on offer is a full-brother to G3 Princess Margaret S. heroine Santosha (Ire) (Coulsty {Ire}) (lot 8); a Calyx (GB) half-sister to listed winner and Group 2-placed Easton Angel (Ire) (Dark Angel {Ire}) (lot 20); and a Pearl Secret (GB) half-sister to two black-type horses in Tilly's Chilli (Ire) (Excelebration {Ire}) and Cormier (Ire) (Born To Sea {Ire}) (lot 16). Seventy of the 88 yearlings catalogued are out of winners or are siblings to winners, while 24 yearlings have black-type in the first dam.

There are also 23 winning mares or producers of winners in the broodmare portion of the sale.  The stakes-producing Whitefall (Street Cry {Ire}) has been consigned as lot 200, while listed winner Fanditha (Ire) (Danehill Dancer {Ire}) already has four winners to her credit and is consigned as lot 171.

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Bellabel, formally trained by Jessica Harrington in Ireland, won the Grade II contest on debut for Philip D'Amato, sparking hopes that bigger and better things could be coming in the sales ring for her breeder.

Cousins has four broodmares at his base in Dunshaughlin in County Meath. He bought Fashion Line (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}), the dam of Bellabel, for €32,000 at the November Mares Sale at Goffs in 2017 off Darley.

He explained, “I have four mares at the moment. For some reason or another, I have had a lot more fillies than colts.

“I am a retired vet. I worked with the Department of Agriculture. We bought the farm in Dunshaughlin 30 years ago and I have been breeding for over 10 years now.”

He added, “This would be my biggest success and hopefully we can do even better with the mare's progeny. You live in hope.”

Peter Kelly of Ballybin Stud has consigned horses for Cousins for over 10 years. He recalls Bellabel being “big and backward” as a yearling and revealed how he couldn't help but smile to himself when he read her trainer's comments about the filly in the TDN last week.

He explained, “We've been selling for Fergus for over 10 years now. We've had some great days with him, in the ring and cheering on his stock on the track, but he hasn't enjoyed anything like what Bellabel achieved over the weekend. It was his best moment in racing.

“He bought the mare from Godolphin and we had Bellabel for the yearling sales. She was quite big and looked a bit backward. She was in a couple of sales but it was the time when some of them were moved to England so we threw her out into the field for six weeks and it was the best thing we ever did as she came back in and we went for the later sale–the Tattersalls Ireland Flat Breeding Stock Sale–in December.

“She bloomed and was a totally different filly for those extra six weeks or so that she got. We were expecting that she might stand out a little bit and she made €33,000, which wasn't a bad price, and Belardo had done well with his first crop at that stage so everything had fallen into place for her. She walked her way into a sale–she was a massive walker, quite typical of the mare actually.”

He added, “We were reading Phil D'Amato in the TDN last week. He was speaking about the European fillies that he bought and mentioned that he backed off Bellabel and gave her time. We were saying, 'that's the story of her life,' as she's a big filly and the bit of time has been her friend.”

#6 Bellabel wins the G2 San Clemente, trained by @phildamato11, ridden by @umbyrispoli! Congrats to the connections!

The action continues on TVG with #TheQuarters next from @losalracing! Tune in for live, on-site coverage! pic.twitter.com/aTo9UqA1bA

— TVG (@TVG) July 24, 2022

Fashion Line has a Holy Roman Emperor (Ire) yearling filly (lot 424) and Profitable (Ire) filly foal that will soon go under the hammer. With the mare back in foal to Belardo, hopes are high that Bellabel's success can be built upon.

Kelly said, “There's a yearling half-sister by Holy Roman Emperor and she's going to Fairyhouse Part 1. She's a big mover, a similar type to the mare. She also has a Profitable filly foal and he went back to the well with Belardo as she's in foal to him. I'm delighted for Fergus.”

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Victorious versus winners in an 18-horse field going one mile on turf Sept. 16 in Ireland, Bellabel was well fancied today, but had to settle for second billing in the tote, as her stablemate, fellow Irish-bred Helens Well, was off at even money and finished third.

“She'd shown enough ability where I thought she merited a shot in this race,” said D'Amato, who has developed a number of Irish-breds over the past three years in Southern California.  “Hats off to Niles Dalton for finding these gems and Michael (Nentwig, part owner) and the partners for putting up the money.  I think I really had this filly about 80 percent fit too, so I think there is definitely room to improve here.”

Off as the 5-2 second choice in a field of six sophomore fillies, Bellabel paid $7.00, $4.60 and $2.20.

Owned by the Benowitz Family Trust, CYBT, Michael Nentwig and Ray Pagano, Bellabel picked up $60,000 for the win, increasing her earnings to $75,435 while running her overall mark to 6-2-1-1.

“We broke quite slow, so I was trying to get going and she responded so well that I actually found myself on the lead a bit sooner than I expected, but once I asked her to make her move, she was there for me,” said Prat, who collected his second win on the Sunday card.  “I really liked the way she quickened down the lane.  She should have a good future.”

Shoppingforpharoah, who jumped out to the lead under Ricky Gonzalez, battled gamely for second, finishing a half length in front of Helens Well.  Off at 9-2, Shoppingforpharoah paid $6.80 and $3.00.

Ridden by Umberto Rispoli, Helens Well, who closed much ground as the 2-1 favorite going a mile on turf in the Grade III Jimmy Durante Stakes at Del Mar Nov. 27, sat a close second today but flattened out through the drive, finishing 4 ¾ lengths better than longshot Fuente Ovejuna and paid $2.10 to show.

Fractions on the race were 24.71, 49.27, 1:13.67 and 1:25.20

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