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.