bellamy road rattling the sabers with juvenile prospects

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bellamy road, kinsman farm, stallion success, wood memorial

*The following post was rewritten from one published last week in Paulick Report Special at the OBS April sale.

Bellamy Road was a classic prospect of such quality that he brought experienced journalists from around the world to see his effort in the Kentucky Derby. At that point, Bellamy Road had won four of his five starts, and his prep for the Derby was a 17 ½-length victory in the Grade 1 Wood Memorial. Bellamy Road led all the way with fractions of :46.08 for the half and 1:09.84 for six furlongs, with a clocking of 1:47.16 for the nine furlongs.

It appeared to serious students of form that Bellamy Road had only to lope a 10^th furlong in :13 to win easily. If only racing were that easy.

Bellamy Road did make the lead between calls, then faded to seventh, in the Derby that Giacomo won in 2:02.75. Bellamy Road came out of the race with some issues, raced only once more, when a solid second in the Travers, and entered stud as a horse who “might have been.”

To his credit, the dark brown son of Concerto had impressed horsemen in Kentucky with his speed and stamina. As a stallion, Bellamy Road found a loyal following of breeders who wanted to add his size and scope to their matings.

The results paid off on the racetrack, with such quality performers as G1 Wood Memorial winner Toby’s Corner, G2 Adirondack Stakes winner Position Limit, G3 Lexington Stakes winner All Squared Away, G3 Schuylerville Stakes winner Georgie’s Angel, and other good graded horses.

Those graded stakes winners came from the stallion’s first two crops, bred just as the economy slipped over the edge, and Bellamy Road’s fortunes slipped too. So, the stallion had only 29 foals among the crop that form his current 3-year-olds, but such was the impression of his initial crops on the track that his 2014 2-year-olds number 137, with 119 yearlings following.

Those numbers are the tangible evidence of Bellamy Road’s resurgence as a significant stallion. The big, rangy and dark horse is a consistent sire of athletes that combine bone, scope, and athleticism with speed.

That last component was not lost on the savvy horsemen who buy yearlings for resale at the in-training auctions, and at the OBS April sale, there are 21 juveniles by Bellamy Road consigned. Bellamy Road himself came through the OBS April sale in 2004 when he was purchased by George Steinbrenner’s Kinsman Stud for $87,000 out of the Ocala Stud consignment, agent. So it is not a big surprise that the stallion gets good juvenile prospects.

Among those are some highly promising lots who have shown speed in the brief trials that form the basis for judging which prospects are the most desirable future racing. The breezes indicate which horses are naturally athletic and look like sound racers, although there are no graded stakes at these abbreviated distances.

Several have worked well, and these include Hip 280, a colt who worked in :10 1/5. Standing 16 hands already, this May foal appears mature and well-grown, with medium bone and substance. Another appealing prospect by the stallion is Hip 515, a filly with a huge shoulder standing 16 hands and having great length through the body.

** The sales results for the Bellamy Road offspring were about standard for the 2yo sales this season. The prices for the better selections were quite good, showing a median of $72,500, but the market split. The premium horses sold for a lot better than median. The other half, except for the $55,000 colt, brought a lot less.

Of the 21 consigned to the sale, 12 went through the ring, with 10 sold. The results are summarized below:

34 out C Bellamy Road For All We Know Eisaman Equine, Agent Withdrawn Out
143 10.1 C Bellamy Road Hollywood Classic Casse Sales LLC, Agent for Kinsman Farm Sallusto & Albina, Agent 175,000
217 10.3 C Bellamy Road Kelly Mac Best A Luck Farm LLC, Agent VI 95,000 Not Sold
225 out C Bellamy Road Kiss the Diva Kilbride Stables, Agent Withdrawn Out
276 out F Bellamy Road Living On the Line Off the Hook LLC, Agent IX Withdrawn Out
280 10.1 C Bellamy Road Long Drive Home Bo Hunt, Agent David M. Clark 340,000
297 21.4 F Bellamy Road Magical Mist Woodford Thoroughbreds, Agent Jeff Heslep 25,000
333 10.1 C Bellamy Road Mindy Queen Northwest Stud Northwind Thoroughbreds LLC 105,000
475 10.1 C Bellamy Road Princess Eliza Eisaman Equine, Agent Eddie Plesa, Jr., Agent 90,000
515 21.2 F Bellamy Road Real Quick Pic Woodford Thoroughbreds, Agent Cam Allard 135,000
557 23.0 C Bellamy Road Rouge Lady Derby Daze Farm, Agent III Carlo Tucci 30,000
582 out C Bellamy Road Save My Place Off the Hook LLC, Agent IX Withdrawn Out
721 out C Bellamy Road Sweet Again Casse Sales LLC (Justin Casse), Agent for Kinsman Farm Withdrawn Out
735 10.3 C Bellamy Road Tale of Honoree Casse Sales LLC (Justin Casse), Agent X John P. Warren 55,000
822 out F Bellamy Road Unbridled Blessing de Meric Sales, Agent XI Withdrawn Out
843 out C Bellamy Road Villa D Marie Eddie Woods, Agent LI Withdrawn Out
973 34.1 F Bellamy Road Battle Hymn Eddie Woods, Agent LXXVIII 23,000 Not Sold
999 10.4 C Bellamy Road Bluster de Meric Sales, Agent XVIII K.O.I.D. Co., Ltd., (Kim, Jing Young) 30,000
1087 out F Bellamy Road Cosmic Wing A. R. Equine, Agent Withdrawn Out
1171 22.2 C Bellamy Road Dynameesch Paul Sharp, Agent V Russ Smith 42,000
1176 out C Bellamy Road Easy Action Crupi’s New Castle Farm, Agent Withdrawn Out

swift star: now dam of belmont park stakes winner bellamy star

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bellamy road, bellamy star, belmont park, early success with racers, export of breeding stock, kinsman farm, new york stakes winner, overseas buyers, success of broodmares, swift star, vagaries of the sales ring, xtra heat

Over the past couple of years, young mares with a single knock on them have been going begging at the sales, bringing next to nothing. Older mares with a knock frequently have brought nothing: “no bid” or “RNA $1,000,” which is the minimum hammer price at Kentucky auctions.

The dam of Bellamy Star, winner of the Xtra Heat Stakes at Belmont Park on Sunday, ran through the ring at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s sale in January 2009 and brought $7,500 from Jose Uzcategui and is now a broodmare in Venezuela. The sales catalog listed the mare as in foal to Trippi on a June 11 cover, but that is surely inaccurate. Most mares are given a final pregnancy check shortly before sales time, and some inevitably turn up empty.

As a barren mares, she would have been more interesting to a breeder from the Southern Hemisphere, where a May foal would be virtually unraceable for a long time and would prevent the mare from being bred back on the correct time schedule until 2011.

But now Swift Star is the dam of a nice New York stakes winner, who is the sixth SW by the talented young stallion Bellamy Road, winner of the Wood Memorial and an emerging force as a sire of two-turn stock with class.

A tall and rangy horse, Bellamy Road is a proper type-to-type mate for a mare by turf star Theatrical, also a force for quality at a distance of ground. Bellamy Road also has succeeded notably for Bellamy Star’s owner-breeder Kinsman Farm where the first two mates for Swift Star did not.

The mare’s produce record through 2011, per JC records, is below:

1st Dam: Swift Star, b, 2001. Bred by Kinsman Farm (KY). Raced 2 yrs in NA, 2 sts, 0 wins, $1,496. ($7,500, 2009, obsjan, brdmr)

2006:	Free Light, ch f, by Crown Delite. Raced 4 yrs in NA, 24 sts, 3 wins, $42,096 (ssi = 0.63).
2007:	Ostinato, ch c, by Concerto. Raced 1 yr in NA, 1 st, 0 wins, $150.
2008:	BELLAMY STAR.
	At 3: Won Xtra Heat S.

Broodmare sire: THEATRICAL (IRE), b, 1982. Sire of 351 dams of 1509 foals, 1034 rnrs (69%), 661 wnrs (44%), 138 2yo wnrs (9%), 57 sw (4%).

2nd Dam: Rivermorn, ch, 1992. Bred by Gallaghers Stud (NY). Raced 1 yr in NA, 2 sts, 0 wins, $420. ($475,000, 1999, keenov, brdmr; $8,500, 2007, obsjan, brdmr) Dam of QUIET RULER (g, Woodman. $399,698, Won Mohawk Handicap (R) twice).

It is also interesting that this filly, whose dam and granddam have sold rather cheaply in the past few years, won the Xtra Heat Stakes. Xtra Heat, champion racer and the earner of several million ($2.1), sold three times at public auction: $9,100 at Keeneland November as a weanling, $4,700 at OBS August as a yearling, and $5,000 at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic’s May sale of 2yos in training. [The mare also went RNA at the FT Kentucky November sale as a broodmare prospect but was sold privately shortly thereafter for seven figures.]

my chat with ‘the boss’

Tags

bellamy road, concerto, edward sexton, george steinbrenner, Kentucky Derby, kinsman farm, ocala stud

There are certain people you don’t expect to chat with on the phone, and George Steinbrenner would have ranked pretty high on that list for most people. Considering his reputation for volatility, that would be just fine, you’d imagine.

But when Bellamy Road was coming to the Kentucky Derby in 2005, was the race favorite, and was Steinbrenner’s big shot at the Kentucky classic, I had an opportunity to talk to the owner about his horse.

Despite his press reputation, Steinbrenner was notably cordial and proved quite the raconteur. He said, “Frank, there is nothing I’d rather do than win the Kentucky Derby. It’s the greatest race in the world. Standing in that winner’s circle would be the greatest thrill in the world. You know, I’ve already won the World Series!”

To have Steinbrenner win the Run for the Roses would have been a great thing for the sport. For one thing, he would have screaming the joys of racing on national television and impressing on a different audience that sports are not all played with bats and balls.

Unfortunately, Bellamy Road had a terrible race, and that was that. But it was a great experience for Steinbrenner, he said, and he was closely associated with the production of Bellamy Road, including breeding the horse’s sire Concerto.

Bellamy Road was consigned through Ocala Stud to the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s April auction of 2-year-olds in training in 2004. And Steinbrenner acquired the colt through his Kinsman Farm manager, Edward Sexton.

Just a few months previously, the Irish-born Sexton had been breaking yearlings and galloping youngsters at Ocala Stud. While he was there, he worked with Bellamy Road.

Sexton said: “The first time I saw him, I fell in love with him. He’s not a typical American horse. He’s a real European horse” in physical type and distance ability.

In between working with Bellamy Road and the colt going to the sales, Sexton became farm manager at Kinsman.

“I was here a couple of months, and I saw Bellamy Road advertised in the April sale,” he said. “So, I came to Mr. Steinbrenner, and said, ‘If you want a Derby horse, this is the one who’ll do it.’ ”

“He said, ‘I’ve hired you to do a job. Go ahead and get him.’ ”

“How much will I bid to?” Sexton asked.

Steinbrenner looked at Sexton and said, “You go to the sale to bring the horse home.”

And for $87,000, Bellamy Road sold to Kinsman Farm. 

//