A WEEK after the news that he was sold to Turkey in a deal brokered by Michael Shefflin, Belardo (Lope De Vega) provided his new owner Refik Yigit with a great fillip when he had a weekend graded stakes double. Belardo will join Arizona, purchased last year, and stand at Yigit’s farm in Karacabey.

Belardo’s seven-year-old Irish-bred son Gold Phoenix, trained by Philip d’Amato, made a single start at two in Ireland for Kieran Cotter, winning a maiden at Dundalk before being sold to race in the US. He had failed to sell as a yearling for €24,000. Gold Phoenix was off the track for more than a year after his Irish win, but has now won every year from four to seven.

Gold Phoenix’s biggest success was in 2023 when he won the Grade 1 Frank E Kilroe Mile Stakes at Santa Anita, but his win at the weekend was quite remarkable. It was the fourth year in succession that he captured the 11-furlong Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap, and it took his winnings to just over $2 million.

His eight victories stateside include two editions of the Grade 2 Charles Whittingham Stakes at Santa Anita, the Grade 2 John Henry Turf Championship at Santa Anita and the Grade 2 Eddie Read Stakes at Del Mar.

Gold Phoenix is one of 10 foals out of the three-year-old winner Magnifica (Mizzen Mast), her most recent being a yearling colt by Gleneagles (Galileo) and a filly foal this spring by Phoenix Of Spain (Lope De Vega). Five of her eight foals of racing age have run, but just two are winners. The other happens to also be a gelded son of Belardo, Chico Magnifica, who won at the start of August for Karl Burke.

This is a top-class female line, and Gold Phoenix is far from being the sole Group or Grade 1 winner in it. His dam is a full-sister to Sea Defence (Mizzen Mast), winner of the Group 1 Stewards’ Cup in Hong Kong, while their own-sister Jibboom (Mizzen Mast) was a dual Grade 2 winner and ran second in the Grade 1 Santa Monica Handicap. Peplum (Nijinsky), the third dam of Gold Phoenix, won the Listed Cheshire Oaks.

Peplum’s dam Chain Store, a stakes winner in the USA, bred four winners from five runners, and all but one were stakes winners. Geraldine’s Store (Exclusive Native) was a Grade 2 winner and Grade 1-placed, but was not the best of the trio. That honour falls to Al Bahathri (Blushing Groom). She won the Group 1 Irish 1000 Guineas, and bred a classic winner in Haafhd (Alhaarth), successful in the 2000 Guineas and Group 1 Champion Stakes. An unraced full-sister to Al Bahathri bred Spanish Fern (El Gran Senor) who captured the Grade 1 Yellow Ribbon Stakes.

Special Wan

Jim Browne’s Kilnamoragh Stud bred and raced Special Wan (Belardo), who recorded an impressive debut success at Leopardstown two years ago, trained by Pat Foley. The handler is a son of Tom who is remembered for guiding the racing career of Danoli. After that win, Special Wan placed twice in listed races, at three and four, before being sold to Team Valor International and Steven Rocco.

She placed in two Group 3 races at Leopardstown for new connections last year before heading to the USA and winning an allowance race at Kentucky Downs. Special Wan joined Brendan Walsh’s stables and this year, at five, she has turned into the racemare that her breeder and first trainer believed she was – hence her name! In three starts she won the Grade 3 Honey Fox Stakes at Gulfstream Park, ran third in the Grade 1 Just A Game Stakes, and last Saturday was back in the winners’ circle after the Grade 3 Ladies Turf Stakes, where she set a new course record for a mile at Kentucky Downs.

Team Valor International’s Barry Irwin has told me exclusively that Special Wan will contest this month’s Grade 1 First Lady Stakes at Keeneland over a mile, and with high hopes of a win she will then head to The Night of the Stars auction session at Fasig-Tipton in November. This will be her second time to be offered for sale, as she failed to trade at the Goffs Champions Day Sale at Leopardstown two years ago when she was retained at €225,000.

Kildangan Stud

Belardo stood six seasons at Kildangan Stud, going from €15,000 to €9,000, and just completed his third season at Bearstone Stud in Shropshire, going from £6,500 to £5,500. His six crops of racing age include this year’s Group 1 winner Fiach McHugh in Hong Kong, and the US Grade 2 winner Bellabel. However, his 10 group or graded stakes winners number just one in Ireland, Elysium, the Group 2 Rockfel Stakes winner Isabella Giles in Britain, and a Group 3 two-year-old winner in France.

Trained by Roger Varian, Belardo was the champion two-year-old in Europe when he won the Group 1 Dewhurst Stakes, and trained on to add the Group 1 Lockinge Stakes over a mile as a four-year-old. In spite of siring three group winners among the 18 individual winners from his first crop, his stud career did not blossom as might have been hoped, but he will be a great addition to the stallion ranks in Turkey where he is bound to be popular.