Team Valor International has announced that millionaire and grade I winner Unbridled Belle, who won the Oct. 31 Turnback the Alarm Handicap (gr. III) at Aqueduct, is booked to Medaglia d’ Oro for 2010. The 6-year-old mare, owned by Team Valor and trained by Todd Pletcher, is scheduled make her final start in the Nov. 26 Falls City Handicap (gr. II) at Churchill Downs.
After her last race, the 17-hand mare will be vanned to John Sikura’s Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms near Lexington, where she will be placed under artificial lighting with an eye to commencing her cycle in anticipation of next year’s breeding season.
Unbridled Belle will be bred on an annual breeding right belonging to Team Valor principal Barry Irwin, who bought Medaglia d’Oro on behalf of Audrey Haisfield. Medaglia d'Oro entered stud at Hill ‘n’ Dale before relocating to Haisfield's Stonewall Stallions near Versailles, Ky. Sheikh Mohammed bought Medaglia d’Oro in June to stand at his Darley Stud near Lexington. Medaglia d’Oro’s 2010 fee is $100,000.
Unbridled Belle will be offered for sale by her partnership at the 2010 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November mixed sale.
Bred in Kentucky by Joe Sutton and Laszlo Makk, Unbridled Belle (Broken Vow –Little Bold Belle, by Silver Buck) has won or placed in 16 of 24 races and earned $1,893,728. Twelve of the wins and placings have come in stakes.