Breeding on the Route 4 Corridor 

Mechanicville breeder Peter Beals and Schuylerviller breeders Dan and Kathy Barraclough work as a team to help create and develop impressive maiden winner Bellacose

Horse racing is a team effort from breeding, sales preparation, training, and racing, regardless of the level. Bellacose proved that last week.

The 2-year-old filly left quite of an impression at Saratoga Race Course on July 17 with her front-running debut victory by 10¾ lengths before jockey Manny Franco eased on the filly until the last 70 yards.

That impressive victory could not happen without a team of people within the 15-mile Route 4 corridor from Schuylerville to Mechanicville: trainer Jeremiah Englehart, breeder Dan and Kathy Barraclough of Saratoga Glen Farm, and breeder Peter Beals of Beals Racing Stable, LLC.

“It makes you feel proud and happy to be friends and partners with good people,” Beals said. “We were optimistic going into the race, but you never know what to expect from a first-time starter. Jeremiah, per usual, had her ready to go.”

“Dan and Kathy do a wonderful job,” Beals added. “There are a few things that can go right in the breeding and racing, and there are a hundred things that can go wrong. It really hits you when you have success like the other day.”

That success started at the breeding farm. The Barracloughs and Beals have been in a breeding partnership over the last few years. During that time, they have produced several horses who have earned six-digit sales in the ring.

Some of these include the following:

• a filly by King for a Day out of the mare Downtown Daria who sold for $130,000 at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga fall mixed sale;

• a colt by Audible out of the mare Bears Measure who sold for $200,000 at Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Preferred New York-bred sales in August 2022;

• a colt by Volatile out of the mare Scat’s Lassie who sold for $280,000 as a 2-year-old at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sales in Timonium, Maryland in May.

About three years ago, Beals wanted to breed his small mare Little Bullet, whom he bought as an unraced mare for $11,000 from Taylor Made at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Mixed Sales in February 2020.

Beals took the risk by breeding his mare for the first time to 2017 Jim Dandy winner Good Samaritan. They produced Sox for Daughters, who won her first career race at Finger Lakes last month. After the foaling Sox for Daughters, Beals wanted to breed Little Bullet again, but to a larger stallion.

As part of a breeding package with WinStar Farm, Beals and the Barracloughs pooled five mares to be physically matched with ideal stallions, which included Audible, the New York-bred 3-year-old champion in 2018 after winning the Florida Derby and finishing third in the Kentucky Derby.

Once Little Bullet became in foal to Audible, Beals sent her to the Saratoga Glen Farm, which the Barracloughs converted the deteriorated dairy farm into a well-maintained 77-acre farm with self-made ponds and three barns that hold 42 stalls.

“Primarily, everything happens here.” Kathy Barraclough said. “We do all of the foaling here. We raise the babies here. We do the sales prep here. When we wean, we work with the facilities of our partners.”

When Bellacose was born April 10, 2022, the Barracloughs raised and prepped her for the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Fall Mixed Sales where she sold as a weanling for $33,000. While raising the filly, the Barracloughs had concerns about her small size, which is now 15.1 hands or about 60 inches, but they also satisfied with her physicality.

“She isn’t small, but she is on the small end of average,” Dan Barraclough said. “She is very well-muscled, forward and mature. She just isn’t big. There have been plenty of good horses who have been that size. Northern Dancer was 15.2 hands. Foolish Pleasure wasn’t that big.”

Just over a year later, Englehart purchased her for $82,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Keeneland Yearling Sales.

“We were pretty high on her at the sales. We felt pretty strong about her,” Englehart said. “She has a nice look on her. She had a nice shoulder angle and nice hip. She had a racy look to her. She was our type of horse.”

Englehart also credited the Barracloughs for their prior work with Bellacose.

“They do a great job in following their horses from having a mare, foaling, and raising the yearling,” he said “They do a phenomenal job. They always go above and beyond.”

After breaking and training at the Travis Durr Center in South Carolina during the winter, Bellacose arrived the Englehart’s barn on the Oklahoma Annex around the third week of April, shortly after the Oklahoma Training Track opened.

Coming into the race, Bellacosa posted 11 workouts – four of them at three furlongs in May and the remaining at a half mile. While she was coming into the race in good shape, Englehart knew this would not be any easy outing as he was surprised with the outcome

“I was worried about a few horses in that race. It looked like it was good on paper,” Englehart said. “Manny said when she got to the front, her ears kind of went out and she was looking around. When he asked her, she went. I was a little surprised in how she won. She is very competitive and fiery.”

Englehart indicated there is a likelihood that Bellacose, owned by Christopher T. Dunn, Blue Tarp Racing, Chris Mara, Greyhound Stables, Nicholas Sgroi, Arthur Sgroi, Jonathan M. Sacks, and Corrin Genovese, could be racing again at Saratoga in the Seeking the Ante Stakes for New York-bred juvenile fillies competing at six furlongs on Aug. 25.

While Bellacose’s win pleased the owners and Englehart, it was just as important to both Beals and the Barracloughs since they receive breeding awards that benefit their farms.

“For us, breeders awards are a big deal,” Beals said. “They really keep us going. That race the other day was a big chunk of change for us. It really helps us. That victory does so many things on so many levels.”

“It also gets other trainers and people buying these horses to know that if you get a horse from Beales [Racing] and Saratoga Glen [Farm] bred and raised by Saratoga Glen, you are going to get a horse that is raised properly,” he added. “I think that’s important. That’s why there is a connection that reoccurs.”