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Clarken Racing | Clarken Racing News 53097 Fairytale Return For Bella Vella

Fairytale return for Bella Vella

Fairytale return for Bella Vella

Bella Vella has made a fairytale racetrack return, landing Saturday's Group 3 R.N. Irwin Stakes (1100m) at Morphettville.

The Group 1 winner had been retired and was knocked down for $1.9 million as a broodmare on the Gold Coast last May and had not sighted a racetrack in 392 days.

Purchased by Rosemont Stud, Bella Vella failed to get in foal on three occasions to superstar stallion I Am Invincible, prompting connections to resurrect her racetrack career.

The seven-year-old, who was sent out a $5.50 chance after a recent trial win, jumped to the lead under Kayla Crowther and held off a determined Instant Celebrity.

Saturday's win adds another chapter to the incredible story of Bella Vella, who was originally purchased for $100,000 at the Magic Millions Yearling Sales in 2016.

Bella Vella had been retired once previously, after winning four sprint races on country tracks under three different trainers, before finding her way to the care of Will Clarken after being picked up at an online auction for $22,500.

Clarken could not hide his admiration for the mare post-race.

“It’s quite incredible, I don’t think it will happen again where she has come from and what she’s achieved,” Clarken said.

“She just has this unbelievable internal strength to want to compete.

“You could see as soon as she walked back into the stable that she was going to come up again... I knew from a long time ago.

“She’s been faultless, she’s sound, she’s happy.

“She wants to be part of the stable and she really is a dream for me.

“When the chips are down she’s there for you.

“It took me a while to accept taking her back.

“I am not someone who goes to the well too many times but it’s just phenomenal."

Bella Vella, who also failed to get in foal to Criterion in 2019, is expected to head on May 7 to the G1 Sangster, the race she won in 2020.

The win continued a successful day for Rosemont Stud, who won the VOBIS Gold Dash when Midwest was also able to lead from start to finish.

RELEVANT NEWS

Clarken's filly set for Stakes test

Unbeaten filly Cicala will be thrown into the deep end at start number three, set to contest the Listed Lightning Stakes at Morphettville at the end of July. The race, for two- and three-year-old gallopers, has been won by subsequent Group 1 winners Nature Strip and Viddora in previous years and Cicala's co-trainer Will Clarken has won two of the past four editions of the race. The daughter of Tamasa backed up her impressive debut win at Gawler by winning in equally as eye-catching fashion over 1100m in town last Saturday. "She's a very unassuming little filly," said Clarken, who trains in partnership with Niki O'Shea. "I saw her about a month ago and she looked a bit light, so we dropped her back to the farm and she's really strengthened. "Rochelle (Milnes, winning rider) galloped her last Tuesday and basically declared her, I wasn't as confident! But she rode her like that." The Lightning is run over 1050m and Clarken says the prospect of a wet track in the depths of winter will pose no issues for his emerging sprinting talent. "I think we'll go five weeks between runs," Clarken said. "She's a three-year-old filly and she gets through the mucky going, all you can do is win. "Ligthly raced, we know she gets through the ground, why not?" Story from Racing.com (Tim Yeatman)

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Keeping it in the family

Later in the day, a pair of lots sold for $200,000 respectively to secure their placings as the joint-second-top lots on the second day of trade. Lot 273, the first of the duo to go under the hammer, is a filly by Yulong’s Written Tycoon who sold to Ridgeport Holdings, Clarken Bloodstock, and Suman Hedge Bloodstock (FBAA). The filly is out of Blue Morpho (Hussonet) who from 16 starts on the track managed three wins, including landing the 2018 Laelia Stakes (Listed, 1600m).  Clarken and his training partner Niki O’Shea know about the family, with the filly’s brother, the unraced Windrow, and her Alabama Express half-sister, who Clarken bought for $80,000 at the Inglis Premier Yearling Sale in 2021, both residents of their Murray Bridge stable.  “The quality always makes money and there have been some really nice types and there’s been no doubt that they have been well received. We were narrowly beaten on the Zoustar filly [Lot 255] earlier today and we were lucky enough to get the Written Tycoon filly a second ago,” Will Clarken told ANZ Bloodstock News. “I’ve got her two relations who have shown great promise and haven’t been to the races yet. Written Tycoon has been a good stallion to the yard and we’ve got Kuroyanagi who was Group 1-placed in the Blue Diamond and it’s going to be for the same ownership group [Ridgeport].” “We’ve got four so far [on the day], we’ve been sent a few and I think there’s a couple more on the list for the rest of the day, but we really came here to buy what we thought was the best filly and the best colt and I think we’ve done that. “Adelaide has been a really happy hunting ground for us. We bought Beau Rossa here and he was narrowly beaten in a Group 1. I bought Galaxy Patch out of here, Prawn Baba and  both of them have run in a Hong Kong Derby [Galaxy Patch second in 2024] and I just know the sale and it’s been really good for us. “Let’s hope the Magic Millions lives on here in South Australia. Obviously there are some changes ahead, but it’s a great asset to have a sale in our backyard.”Story from ANZ Bloodstock News

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Peltzer's brother turns heads

Peltzer's brother will stay in South Australia and be trained by Will Clarken and Niki O'Shea after being bought for $240,000 in the opening session of Monday's Magic Millions Adelaide Yearling Sale. Offered as part of leading SA nursery Mill Park Stud's draft, the colt (Lot 25) was on the shortlist of several good judges but was ultimately knocked down to Clarken's Racing Manager Lachie Weekley on behalf of the stable, owner Rob Chapman and bloodstock agent Suman Hedge. As well as leaving multiple Stakes winner and now young stallion Peltzer, who was purchased for $260,000 as a yearling, the colt's dam Miss Otto has also left Stakes-placed filly Madison Kate. Weekley said the stable targeted the colt and was buoyed by the record of Mill Park Stud, the property on SA's Limestone Coast which has bred or raised more than 20 Group 1 winners. "He's a beautiful colt, just a lovely, well-balanced horse," Weekley said. "He has a lovely So You Think head on him and he looks to have a lot of class. "You'd like to think he'd be that sort of miler type O like. "We tend not to rush our young horses, it's cliche to say but we'll give him plenty of time. "Mill Park Stud is such a fantastic nursery, Chris Watson and the team down there do such a good job and the stats are just phenomenal. "They've nearly got the alphabet of Stakes winners, which speaks for itself."   Story by James Tzaferis from Racing.com

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