Bella Sofia Connections Ante Up for Gamine Battle in BC

The anticipated presence of champion Gamine in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) Nov. 6 at Del Mar has dissuaded some connections from running horses there, but not the Bella Sofia  camp.

The dual graded stakes-winning 3-year-old Awesome Patriot  filly was confirmed for the seven-furlong race Oct. 15 by bloodstock agent Nick Sallusto, who bought the filly for a group of owners with business partner Hanzly Albina. Not an original nominee to the Breeders' Cup, she will be supplemented for $100,000, Sallusto said.

Her owners—Michael Imperio, Medallion Racing, Sofia Soares, Vincent Scuderi, and Parkland Thoroughbreds—are comfortable with the risk, essentially taking the chance with money won this year. She is 4-for-5 with earnings of $542,600, a tally that includes a last-out victory in the $250,000 Gallant Bloom Handicap (G2) Sept. 26 at Belmont Park.

"I think Michael Imperio thought about it like this: If she won the Gallant Bloom, that would pay for it," Sallusto said. "I think that was the thought process. If she was good enough to beat the older fillies, then she would literally earn her way in, both financially and on her merit."

Beyond the purse in the Breeders' Cup, there is a potential title on the line. Having won the Longines Test Stakes (G1) this summer, she has the qualifications to earn a championship if she can dethrone Gamine, last year's Filly & Mare Sprint winner, and beat the rest of the field. Bella Sofia is expected to be one of the secondary favorites with fellow grade 1 winner Ce Ce .

All three females breezed Friday. Bella Sofia went five furlongs at Belmont Park in 1:01.54 for trainer Rudy Rodriguez. Gamine breezed six furlongs in 1:12 at Santa Anita Park for trainer Bob Baffert, and Ce Ce covered a half-mile there in :47 4/5 for trainer Michael McCarthy.

While Gamine was on most everyone's sales radar when she sold, a $1.8 million acquisition by owner Michael Lund Petersen when she topped the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, Bella Sofia drew far less attention at auction. The Two Tone Farms-bred filly was a $20,000 purchase by Sallusto and Albina from Grassroots Training & Sales' consignment to the Ocala Breeders' Sales July 2-Year-Olds and Horses of Racing Age Sale in 2020. She was part of a group of six horses purchased for her original owners.

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"I thought she made a few mistakes in her breeze that cost her a tick or two. That's what really made her buyable," Sallusto recalled, also noting an "upside-down" market during the onset of COVID-19.

Now comes a meeting with Gamine, an East vs. West showdown with Bella Sofia a New York-based filly and Gamine a California-trained one.

"But I think we're in a situation where we have everything to gain and not much to lose, whereas Gamine is putting her title on the line," Sallusto said. "If (Bella Sofia) goes out there and runs second or third, we're still going to be really proud of her, and if she beats Gamine, then we've done the impossible."