Bellafina Breeder Minor Hooked on Quality

Juvenile filly Bellafina, already a dual grade 1 winner thanks to scores in the Sept. 1 Del Mar Debutante Stakes and Sept. 29 Chandelier Stakes at Santa Anita Park, has hooked the imagination of those in racing. Her breeder, Lexingtonian Joe Minor, was already hooked on her sire, Quality Road .

The well-muscled bay filly out of Akron Moon, by Malibu Moon , made short work of her Chandelier foes last out, winning by 6 1/2 lengths and setting herself up as the likely favorite for the Nov. 2 Tito's Handmade Vodka Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) at Churchill Downs. She is raced by Kaleem Shah and trained by Simon Callaghan.

Quality Road, who stands at Lane's End Farm, was the leading first-crop sire of 2014 thanks to top earners Hootenanny  and Blofeld . Minor and Greathouse Properties purchased Blofeld for $225,000 in 2014 at Fasig-Tipton's The Florida Sale from Ciaran Dunne's Wavertree Stables. The colt won the grade 2 Futurity and Nashua stakes later that year and added the Gulfstream Park Handicap (G2) at 4 in 2016.

This year, Quality Road boasts five grade 1 winners. Joining Bellafina are City of Light , Abel Tasman, Salty, and Spring Quality.

"I bought quite a few mares later that year, including Akron Moon, that were in foal to Quality Road," Minor said.

Bred and raced by Robert "Shel" Evans, the stakes-placed Akron Moon was purchased for $175,000 from Evans, with Sweezey and Partners as agent, at the 2014 Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.

The mare's first foal, Diamond King, sold for $55,000 as a yearling, then brought $235,000 as a Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-old. He became a two-time stakes winner, ran in the Preakness Stakes (G1), and was just beaten two noses in the Sept. 30 Oklahoma Derby (G3). The second foal was Bellafina.

After Bellafina failed to meet her reserve at the 2017 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Minor placed her with Dunne, who prepared her for Fasig-Tipton's The Gulfstream Sale. Her pre-sale breeze was :10 flat and she sold for $800,000, the seventh-highest price of the auction.

"I always thought Diamond King as a nice, athletic horse, but Bellafina … I loved her from the time she was a foal," Minor said. "At the sale … she looked the part of a racehorse. I came over to the sale three or four hours before, and I guess (agent) Ben McElroy, Simon Callaghan, and Kaleem Shah probably came by three times.

"She was on a lot of people's list. They just happened to be the last ones to bid on her," he said. "She's in good hands, and Simon has done a great job with her. Thanks to Kaleem Shah for stepping up and paying $800,000 for her. That's a lot of money."

Minor will have a lot of rooting interests in the coming weeks. He bred and sold Achilles Warrior, who is scheduled to start in the Oct. 6 Champagne Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park, and pinhooked Dream Tree, slated for the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1). His program also produced Indiana Oaks (G3) winner Talk Veuve to Me, who is set for a start in the Oct. 7 Juddmonte Spinster Stakes (G1) at Keeneland.