Cover image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan
On Saturday, racegoers and viewers were treated to an extraordinary contest in the G1 Doomben 10,000, where the class sprinters I Wish I Win (NZ) (Savabeel) and Bella Nipotina (Pride Of Dubai) battled it out in the feature race.
It was the iron-hearted daughter of Pride Of Dubai who claimed her second elite-level success and eighth career victory, bringing her earnings to over $9.8 million.
For Michael Christian of Longwood Thoroughbred Farm, who co-bred Bella Nipotina with his wife Siobhan and brother Brad Christian under Sarconi Thoroughbreds, it was a well-deserved and fateful victory.
Christian spoke to The Thoroughbred Report in the aftermath of Bella Nipotina’s G1 Doomben 10,000 win to share more about the superb sprinter. “It was quite amazing, actually, particularly given that we’d been drawing such bad gates, and she finally drew a great barrier (3).
“We thought, 'Well, this is great, we’ll get on speed and make sure she’s in the race,' and then she misses the kick.
“Our plan was much like in the G1 TJ Smith; he (I Wish I Win) was our biggest danger, and the idea was to have him try and run her down because she is so tough. We felt if we could be a couple of pairs in front of I Wish I Win, we might hold on.
“But then when we settled in behind him, I really, to be honest, didn’t hold too much hope of being able to run I Wish I Win down. However, it was a fair and square race and really was incredible.”
Family affair
Christian’s association with Bella Nipotina’s family extends back to her grand-dam, Bella Inez (Beautiful Crown {USA}), whom Sarconi Thoroughbreds purchased. The once-raced daughter of Beautiful Crown (USA) proved to be quite the producer. Her first foal, Hallowell Belle (Starcraft {NZ}), like Bella Nipotina, was tough and talented.
Hallowell Belle’s biggest success came in the G2 Gilgai S., but she also placed in a host of Group 1 contests. Following the daughter of Starcraft (NZ) was the Group 3-winning Fuddle Dee Duddle (Red Ransom {USA}), dam of the G3 Maribyrnong Plate victor Brereton (Zoustar).
Hallowell Belle | Image courtesy of Sportpix
Bella Inez’s third foal, Arctic Dream, a daughter of Sebring, was also a winner. Tragedy struck for Christian when he lost Bella Inez to a colic attack shortly after being covered by Fastnet Rock. The mare also left an orphan foal, who would be fittingly named Bella Orfana (Star Witness), meaning “Beautiful Orphan” in Italian.
“We purchased Bella Inez and bred from her. Sadly, we lost her when she was 11, Bella Inez had a colic attack shortly after she was covered by Fastnet Rock. Unfortunately, her Star Witness filly was left an orphan, and that’s why we named her Bella Orfana, which means Beautiful Orphan in Italian.
“Unfortunately, her (Bella Inez's) Star Witness filly was left an orphan, and that’s why we named her Bella Orfana, which means Beautiful Orphan in Italian.” - Michael Christian
“She was only four weeks old, and we decided to retain her and not sell her because she was the fourth foal from Bella Inez, who had already produced two stakes winners in Hallowell Belle and Fuddle Dee Duddle.”
Bella Orfana raced six times, with her best effort being a placed effort at Geelong. However, Christian kept the faith in the daughter of Star Witness and retired her to the breeding barn.
Dubai and Bella make magic
Christian explained the reasoning why he elected to send Bella Orfana, to the then first-season sire Pride Of Dubai. The son of brilliant Street Cry (Ire) retired to Coolmore Stud at an introductory fee of $55,000 (inc GST) and victories in the G1 Blue Diamond S. and the G1 Sires Produce S.
“We had bred a horse called Of The Brave. He won the Listed Debutant S. and the G3 Blue Diamond Prelude (Colts and Geldings) where he just beat Pride Of Dubai. Pride Of Dubai would go on and win the Blue Diamond and the Sires’ Produce but I just remember seeing the horse in the flesh when Home Of The Brave was running against him, and I thought what a magnificent animal.
“I went to see him at Coolmore, and the pedigree seemed to work nicely as well, so, there were a host of reasons I decided to go to Pride Of Dubai with Bella Orfana. It’s all part of the story, as to why Bella Nipotina means so much to us. We bred her mum, who was left an orphan and granddam was such a good mare for us.”
“... there were a host of reasons I decided to go to Pride Of Dubai with Bella Orfana. It’s all part of the story, as to why Bella Nipotina means so much to us. We bred her mum, who was left an orphan and granddam was such a good mare for us.” - Michael Christian
However, Christian explains that Bella Nipotina had a serious accident loading onto a float heading to Rosemont Stud that interrupted her yearling preparation and saw head to sales not at her prime and few superficial knocks and scars.
“I sent her off to a great mate of mine Anthony Mithen at Rosemont Stud to prepare Bella Nipotina for sale but when we loaded her on the truck from my farm to get to Rosemont, she flipped over and went completely off in the truck and cut herself to ribbons.
“She cut her knees, her fetlocks; it was a mess. When we eventually got her to Rosemont for the first five or six weeks of the eight-week preparation, she couldn’t do anything and that was one of the reasons she only made $80,000 because she was just as fat as a tent.”
Bella Nipotina as a yearling | Image courtesy of Inglis
The irony given Bella Nipotina is noted for her constitution travelling Australia-wide in a single preparation with minimal fuss. A fact that isn’t lost of Christian, “It is quite ironic given the number of kilometres that she’s travelled on planes and horse floats, that her very first trip in a horse float as yearling, she fell over, flipped and thrashed about and nearly hurt herself beyond repair.”
Lucky eight
Christian retained a share in the filly, who started her career with Lindsay Park, when David Hayes and Tom Dabernig alongside Ben Hayes were at the fore. Bella Nipotina made her debut at Caulfield in the Listed Debutant S. where she was an unlucky fourth and followed the effort beaten only 0.2l in the R. Listed Inglis Banner.
Bad luck would follow but there was no shortage of tenacious efforts and plenty of prizemoney along the way in Bella Nipotina’s juvenile season. She was then placed in the G3 Blue Diamond Preview (Fillies) before travelling to Sydney where she was beaten by a short margin in the $1 million R. Listed Inglis Millennium.
Remaining in Sydney, Bella Nipotina was fourth in the G2 Sweet Embrace S. behind the future Group 1 winner Hungry Heart (Frankel {GB}), returning to Melbourne saw another bold placed effort in the $250,000 VOBIS Dash at Bendigo before embarking on her visit to South Australia to run in the Listed Dequetteville S. at Morphettville, closing her juvenile campaign with another fourth.
Michael Christian | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Incredibly, it wasn’t until her eighth start, Bella Nipotina recorded her maiden effort, fittingly coming in a Group race - the G3 Quezette S. upon resumption at Caulfield.
“One of the most incredible parts of Bella Nipotina is she ran as an October 2-year-old in the Debutant S. she finished a desperately unlucky fourth and then went to Inglis Banner on Cox Plate Day and got beaten a lip on the line.
“We then headed to Sydney for the Inglis Millennium and got beaten a lip,” Christian laughed. “In fact, the funny thing was she earned something like $550,000 and was still a maiden. The team at Lindsay Park sent her for a spell and I remember when she came back, we had nominated for a race on Friday at Geelong it was a maiden.
“In fact, the funny thing was she (Bella Nipotina) earned something like $550,000 and was still a maiden.” - Michael Christian
“Tom (Dabernig), who was training with David and Ben Hayes at the time, said we’ll throw in a nomination for the Quezette S. as well. What ended up happening is we got balloted out of the Geelong maiden because of all the first starters. So, we ran in the Group 3 on Saturday, and she duly won.”
The filly was thrown into the deep end facing up to hardened Group 1 opposition in the G1 Moir S. where she recorded the worst run of her career finishing last, in hindsight Christian admits it ‘probably wasn’t the right thing to have done’.
“I recall having a conversation with David Hayes, and he said to me, “I think she’s a 2-year-old, so as long as she’s well, healthy and sound, we’ll just keep running her. But then she came back and won the Quezette as a 3-year-old, the plan was then to run in The Thousand Guineas Prelude, but she had an accident.
David Hayes, Tom Dabernig and Ben Hayes
“Someone was cutting a bandage off and accidentally with a scalpel sliced the bulb of her heel. It was quite a significant cut, so she had to have six weeks out and didn’t do anything. Bella (Nipotina) hadn’t done a lot of work, so we brought her back and ran her in the Moir. That was the worst run of her career, and in hindsight it probably wasn’t the right thing to do.”
Bella Nipotina did not greet the winner's circle again that preparation but added further black type to her pedigree with a couple of places. She ended the campaign with an uncharacteristic effort in the $150,000 VOBIS Gold Dash, before the filly was transferred to Ciaron Maher stables when clients bought into her and joined Christian in the ownership.
“She’s been phenomenal. I think she now sits behind Winx, Verry Elleegant, Makybe Diva and maybe Sunline as the highest earning mares in Australian history. I know she passed Black Caviar and funnily enough the one nipping on her heels that may pass her is the other Pride Of Dubai mare - Pride Of Jenni.
“It’s rarefied air.”
Future ambitions
Since those early days, Bella Nipotina has built an enviable record. Her first Group 1 victory came in the G1 Manikato S., a race run in honour of another chestnut powerhouse noted for his tenacity and constitution.
Bella Nipotina achieved her first Group 1 success in the Manikato S. in 2022 | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
In between, there have been victories in the G2 Sapphire S., the G3 How Now S., the Listed Carlyon S., and the Giga Kick S., alongside placings in the G1 TJ Smith S., the G1 William Reid S., the G1 Moir S., the G1 Lightning S., and the G1 VRC Sprint Classic.
Further Group 1 success could come the way of the daughter of Pride Of Dubai, with Christian sharing that the Ciaron Maher-trained mare will likely target the G1 Kingsford-Smith Cup and the G1 Tattersall's Tiara in Queensland.
Speaking on the traits that may have helped elevate Bella Nipotina to one of the best horses in the land, Christian said, “She’s very sassy. She’ll have her moments where the ears go back and the ‘I’m not in the mood, and I don’t want to do that right now’ attitude is present.
“She’s (Bella Nipotina) very sassy. She’ll have her moments where the ears go back and the ‘I’m not in the mood, and I don’t want to do that right now’ attitude is present.” - Michael Christian
“She’s got a little bit of shit in her. She definitely has her moments but generally she’s very chilled and happy in her own space.”
Tragic loss
Heartbreakingly, Christian recently lost Bella Orfana, who, like her own dam, left the earth after producing only four foals.
“As it turned out, several weeks ago, we lost Bella Orfana. She had a rare cancer in her sinus, and we had to put her down. It’s been an emotional few weeks losing her, as we were very attached to Bella Orfana. To think that Bella Nipotina has come out and won another Group 1 is just remarkable, really.”
“... several weeks ago, we lost Bella Orfana. She had a rare cancer in her sinus, and we had to put her down. It’s been an emotional few weeks losing her, as we were very attached to Bella Orfana.” - Michael Christian
Bella Orfana leaves behind a filly by Widden Stud’s Trapeze Artist. Christian shared that the filly will be retained: “There have been lots of ups and downs in recent weeks. The Trapeze Artist filly is a weanling; she wasn’t quite left an orphan, but we had to wean her quite early when we found out about Bella Orfana’s condition.
“It’s the same scenario as Bella Inez. Mother and daughter both only had four foals before passing away at 11, which is so disappointing. However, we are happy to have this Trapeze Artist filly; she’s a lovely filly, and we’ll keep and race her. Who knows where the story will end.”
