Priory Belle (10 April 1993 – after 2005) was an Irish

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...

racehorse and

broodmare A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than four ...

. She showed her best form as a two-year-old in 1995 when she won two of her three races including the

Group 1 Group 1 may refer to: * Alkali metal, a chemical element classification for Alkali metal * Group 1 (racing), a historic (until 1981) classification for Touring car racing, applied to standard touring cars. Comparable to modern FIA Group N * Group On ...

Moyglare Stud Stakes The Moyglare Stud Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Ireland open to two-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run at the Curragh over a distance of 7 furlongs (1,408 metres), and it is scheduled ...

. She failed to win in three starts in 1996 and was retired to become a broodmare. She had some success as a dam of winners, with the last of her foals being born in 2005.

Background

Priory Belle was a chestnut mare bred in Ireland by Tom Lacy. During her racing career he was trained by

Jim Bolger James Brendan Bolger ( ; born 31 May 1935) is a New Zealand retired politician of the National Party who was the 35th prime minister of New Zealand, serving from 1990 to 1997. Bolger was born to an Irish immigrant family in Ōpunake, Taran ...

and raced in the colours of the

County Kilkenny County Kilkenny ( gle, Contae Chill Chainnigh) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the South-East Region. It is named after the city of Kilkenny. Kilkenny County Council is the local authority for the cou ...

-based Ballylinch Stud. She was ridden in all but one of her races by Kevin Manning. She was from the first crop of foals sired by Priolo, a top-class miler who won the

Prix Jean Prat The Prix Jean Prat is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at Deauville over a distance of 1,400 metres (about 7 furlongs), and it is sched ...

Prix Jacques Le Marois The Prix Jacques Le Marois is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to thoroughbred colts and fillies aged three years or older. It is run at Deauville over a distance of 1,600 metres (about 1 mile ...

and

Prix du Moulin The Prix du Moulin de Longchamp is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to horses aged three years or older. It is run at Longchamp over a distance of 1,600 metres (about 1 mile), and it is sch ...

. The best of his progeny included

Sendawar The town of Sendawar is the administrative seat of West Kutai Regency, East Kalimantan, Indonesia. Climate Sendawar has a tropical rainforest climate A tropical rainforest climate, humid tropical climate or equatorial climate is a tropical clim ...

, Mirio (

Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud The Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud is a Group 1 flat horse race in France open to thoroughbreds aged four years or older. It is run at Saint-Cloud over a distance of 2,400 metres (about 1½ miles), and it is sc ...

), Brilliance (

Prix Saint-Alary The Prix Saint-Alary is a Group races, Group 1 Flat racing, flat Horse racing, horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred Filly, fillies. It is run at Longchamp Racecourse, Longchamp ove ...

) and Tigertail (

Prix Minerve The Prix Minerve is a Group 3 flat horse race in France open to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run at Deauville over a distance of 2,500 metres (about 1 mile and 4½ furlongs), and it is scheduled to t ...

). Priory Belle's dam Ingabelle showed considerable racing ability, winning the

Phoenix Sprint Stakes The Phoenix Sprint Stakes is a Group 3 flat horse race in Ireland open to thoroughbreds aged three years or older. It is run at the Curragh over a distance of 6 furlongs (1,207 metres), and it is schedu ...

as a four-year-old in 1988 and was a very successful broodmare, producing Eva's Request (

Premio Lydia Tesio The Premio Lydia Tesio is a Group 2 flat horse race in Italy open to thoroughbred fillies and mares aged three years or older. It is run at Capannelle over a distance of 2,000 metres (about 1¼ miles), and it is scheduled to take place each year ...

) and Wild Bluebell ( Concorde Stakes) as well as the dam of

Chriselliam Chriselliam (2 February 2011 – 7 February 2014) was an Irish-bred British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. In 2013 she won two of her five races in Europe, establishing herself as one of the leading British-trained fillies of her generation ...

. She was a female-line descendant of Princess Sublime, making her a distant relative of

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Racing career

1995: two-year-old season

Priory Belle made her first racecourse appearance in a minor race run over six

furlongs A furlong is a measure of distance in imperial units and United States customary units equal to one eighth of a mile, equivalent to 660 feet, 220 yards, 40 rods, 10 chains or approximately 201 metres. It is now mostly confined to use in hors ...

on firm ground at

Fairyhouse Fairyhouse Racecourse is a horse racing venue in the Republic of Ireland. It is situated in the parish of Ratoath in County Meath, on the R155 road, R155 Regional road (Ireland), regional road, off the N3 road (Ireland), N3. It hosted its first ...

on 9 August. Starting at odds of 3/1 in a five-runner field she won by three quarters of a

length Length is a measure of distance. In the International System of Quantities, length is a quantity with dimension distance. In most systems of measurement a base unit for length is chosen, from which all other units are derived. In the Interna ...

from the

Aidan O'Brien Aidan Patrick O'Brien (born 16 October 1969 in County Wexford, Ireland) Aidan O'Brien bio NTRA. ...

-trained Cashel Princess. Seventeen days after her win at Fairyhouse the filly was stepped up in class and distance for the Listed Debutante Stakes over seven furlongs at

Leopardstown Racecourse Leopardstown Racecourse is an Ireland, Irish horse-racing venue, located in Leopardstown, Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown, 8 km south of the Dublin city centre. Like the majority of Irish courses, it hosts both National Hunt and Flat racing. Th ...

and finished second of the eight runners, beaten one and a half lengths by the

Dermot Weld Dermot K. Weld (born 29 July 1948), a former jockey is one of Ireland's most successful racehorse trainers. He holds the record for the most winners trained in Ireland (2,578 set in August 2000). Weld maintains his stable, Rosewell House, in C ...

-trained

Dance Design Dance Design (foaled 18 February 1993) is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. She competed in five different countries and won seven times from nineteen starts in a track career which lasted from August 1995 to November 1998. She sh ...

. Pat Gilson took the ride when Priory Belle moved up into

class and started a 16/1 outsider for the Moyglare Stud Stakes at the

Curragh The Curragh ( ; ga, An Currach ) is a flat open plain of almost of common land in County Kildare. This area is well known for Irish horse breeding and training. The Irish National Stud is located on the edge of Kildare town, beside the ...

. The British-trained filly Zelzelah started favourite ahead of Dance Design and Rouge Rancon with the other nine runners included Tamnia (

Star Stakes The Star Stakes is a Listed flat horse race in Great Britain open to fillies aged two years only. It is run at Sandown Park over a distance of 7 furlongs (1,408 metres), and it is scheduled to take place each year in Ju ...

), My Melody Parkes (second in the

Lowther Stakes The Lowther Stakes is a Group 2 flat horse race in Great Britain open to two-year-old fillies. It is run at York over a distance of 6 furlongs (1,207 metres), and it is scheduled to take place each ...

) and Catch a Glimpse (third in the

Phoenix Stakes The Phoenix Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Ireland open to two-year-old thoroughbred colts and fillies. It is run at the Curragh over a distance of 6 furlongs (1,207 metres), and it is sch ...

). Priory Belle tracked the leaders as her stablemate Ceirseach set the pace, but began to make good progress in the last quarter mile. She took the lead inside the final furlong and came out on top in a closely contested finish, beating Tamnia by three quarters of a length with My Melody Parkes, Dance Design, Rouge Rancon and Rithab finishing just behind. Just over two lengths covered the first six finishers.

1996: three-year-old season

On her three-year-old debut Priory Belle ran on ground softer than she had previously encountered when she contested the

Athasi Stakes The Athasi Stakes is a Group 3 flat horse race in Ireland open to thoroughbred fillies and mares aged three years or older. It is run over a distance of 7 furlongs (1,408 metres) at the Curragh in earl ...

at the Curragh on 27 April and came home fifth of the seven finishers behind Proud Titania. Four weeks later in the

Irish 1000 Guineas The Irish 1,000 Guineas is a Group 1 flat horse race in Ireland open to three-year-old thoroughbred fillies. It is run at the Curragh over a distance of 1 mile (1,609 metres), and it is scheduled to ...

she was sent off at odds of 25/1 in a twelve-runner field and although she never looked likely to win but stayed on well in the straight to finish fifth behind

Matiya Matiya is a village of Vaishali district in the Bihar state of India. It is surrounded by four district of Bihar, which are Samastipur in East, Saran in West, Muzaffarpur in North and Patna in South. The nearest city Hajipur is about 23&nbs ...

. In June she was sent to England for the

Coronation Stakes The Coronation Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to three-year-old fillies. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 7 furlong and 213 yards (1,603 metres), and it is schedul ...

in which she was able to run on firm ground for the first time as a three-year-old. Starting a 16/1 outsider she finished last of the seven runners behind the French-trained

Shake The Yoke Shake The Yoke (foaled 1 April 1993) was a British-bred Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. Originally trained in France, she showed good form as a two-year-old, winning the Prix d'Aumale and finishing second in the Prix Marcel Boussac. In the ...

. She did not race again and was retired at the end of the year.

Breeding record

After her retirement from racing Priory Belle became a broodmare for the Ballylinch Stud. She produced at least eight foals and four winners between 1998 and 2005: *Bellflower, a chestnut filly, foaled in 1998, sired by

Indian Ridge Indian Ridge (22 March 1985 – 17 October 2006) was an Irish-bred British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He showed promising but unexceptional form as a two-year-old in 1987 when he won twice from four starts in minor races. He established h ...

. Failed to win in five races. *Kiltubber, bay filly, 1999, by

Sadler's Wells Sadler's Wells Theatre is a performing arts venue in Clerkenwell, London, England located on Rosebery Avenue next to New River Head. The present-day theatre is the sixth on the site since 1683. It consists of two performance spaces: a 1,500-sea ...

. Won two races including the Listed Premio Giovanni Falck. Dam of Fox Hunt (

Duke of Edinburgh Stakes The Duke of Edinburgh Stakes is a flat Handicap horse race in Great Britain open to horses of three-year-old and up. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 1 mile 3 furlongs and 211 yards (2,406 ...

), Opinion (

The Metropolitan (ATC) The Metropolitan is an Australian Turf Club Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race held under open handicap conditions, for horses aged three years old and older, over a distance of 2,400 metres at Randwick Racecourse, Sydney, Australia in early Octo ...

) and Anam Allta ( Concorde Stakes). *Seeking Bellissimo, bay colt (later

gelded A gelding is a castrated male horse or other equine, such as a pony, donkey or a mule. Castration, as well as the elimination of hormonally driven behavior associated with a stallion, allows a male equine to be calmer and better-behaved, making th ...

), 2000, by

Rainbow Quest ''Rainbow Quest'' (1965–66) was a U.S. television series devoted to folk music and hosted by Pete Seeger. It was videotaped in black-and-white and featured musicians playing in traditional American music genres such as traditional folk music, ...

. Won one race. *Waltons Grove, bay filly, 2001, by

Machiavellian Machiavellianism or Machiavellian may refer to: Politics *Machiavellianism (politics), the supposed political philosophy of Niccolò Machiavelli *Political realism Psychology *Machiavellianism (psychology), a personality trait centered on cold an ...

. Failed to win in six races. *Silk Mighty, chestnut colt, 2002, by

Giant's Causeway The Giant's Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic fissure eruption. It is located in County Antrim on the north coast of Northern Ireland, about three miles (5 km) northeast of ...

. Failed to win in 21 races. *Unnamed colt, 2003, by

Green Desert ''Green Desert'' is the twenty-seventh major release and the fifteenth studio album by electronic artists Tangerine Dream. The music was recorded in Berlin in 1973, during a period when Peter Baumann had temporarily left Germany to tour Nepal an ...

*Priory Rock, chestnut filly, 2004, by

Rock of Gibraltar The Rock of Gibraltar (from the Arabic name Jabel-al-Tariq) is a monolithic limestone promontory located in the British territory of Gibraltar, near the southwestern tip of Europe on the Iberian Peninsula, and near the entrance to the Mediterr ...

. Won one race. *Lake An Lay, bay colt (gelded), 2005, by

Fasliyev Fasliyev (9 February 1997 – 9 July 2013) was a Thoroughbred racehorse and active sire who was bred in the United States and trained in Ireland. He was the highest-rated European two-year-old of 1999 and was named European Champion Two-Ye ...

. Won one race.

Pedigree

References

{{Reflist 1993 racehorse births Racehorses bred in Ireland Racehorses trained in Ireland Thoroughbred family 10