Multiple Graded Winner Bellezza Heads Balanced Orchid (G3)

Six Graded/Group Winners Among Field of Seven in Turf Marathon

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Multiple graded-stakes winner Bellezza, two-time Chilean Group 1 winner Dona Clota and fellow graded winners Arya Stark, Just Basking, Speed Shopper and Sultana help comprise a compact but competitive group of older females for Saturday’s $175,000 Orchid (G3) at Gulfstream Park.

The 62nd running of the 1 ½-mile Orchid for fillies and mares 4 and up is the fourth of 10 stakes, five graded, worth $2.675 million in purses on a blockbuster program anchored by the $1 million Curlin Florida Derby (G1) presented by Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms at Xalapa for 3-year-olds, the country’s premier Triple Crown prep celebrating its 75th anniversary.

Post time for the first of 14 races is 11:30 a.m. ET

Moyglare Stud Farm homebred mare Bellezza is the 8-5 program favorite in the Orchid to launch her 5-year-old campaign. After seven starts in her native Ireland, she made her North American debut last spring with a victory in the Sheepshead Bay (G3) at Aqueduct, one of the last stakes wins for late trainer Christophe Clement.

Bellezza then raced four times for Clement’s son and former assistant, Miguel, finishing third in the New York (G1), second in the Glens Falls (G2) and winning the 1 3/8-mile Flower Bowl (G2) – all at Saratoga, the first two over yielding turf – before wrapping up her season running sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1) Nov. 1 at Del Mar.

“She’s doing fantastic. We’re excited,” Clement said. “We’re bullish. The main reason we’re running in the Orchid is because she came into hand so quickly. The original plan was to bring her back in the Sheepshead Bay, similar to last year. Because she’s done so well out of the Breeders’ Cup, we had to run her sooner than expected. She’s a very, very good mare.”

Flavien Prat, up for her U.S. debut, rides back from outermost Post 7.

Resolute Racing’s Chilean-bred Dona Clota won back-to-back Group 1 races at home before making her U.S. debut in last winter’s Pegasus Filly & Mare Turf (G2) at Gulfstream, where she was a troubled 10th for retiring trainer Ignacio ‘Nacho’ Correas IV. She made one start for trainer Chad Brown, running fifth in a 1 1/8-mile turf optional claiming allowance at Saratoga, before being moved to the barn of Saffie Joseph Jr.

Dona Clota (Post 4, 4-1) rallied between horses to get up for third in her first race for Joseph, the 1 3/8-mile The Very One (G3) Feb. 28 behind Just Basking. She has trained forwardly since then at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream’s satellite training facility in Palm Beach County.

“I thought she ran very respectable last time. She had a little trouble. She was a little keen early and got into a little trouble and had to wait,” Joseph said. “I thought she ran very promising. I didn’t really know what to expect going into that race but I thought it was a step in the right direction, and the added distance should help her. She seems like she’s training better since then so hopefully all goes well and she could win this kind of race.”

Joseph also entered Ken Ramsey’s 4-year-old filly Ramsey Pond (Post 6, 20-1), four times stakes-placed including the 2024 Wait a While and 2025 Sweetest Chant, Cellars Shiraz and Tropical Park Oaks on the Gulfstream turf. Last time out, she ran fifth in the 1 ½-mile Christophe Clement (G3) Jan. 24.

“She’s run well. The distance might be a little stretch for her but it’s a small field and she’s going to be able to sit closer,” Joseph said. “The one try she had at the distance [in the Clement] she kind of had to wait and kind of didn’t quicken, so it might have been an indication that she didn’t stay the trip but it wasn’t conclusive enough not to try it again.”

Tyler Gaffalione replaces Prat on Dona Clota, while Edwin Gonzalez gets the riding assignment on Ramsey Pond.

Andrew Schwarz and Wendy Schwarz Gilder’s Just Basking (Post 2, 7-2) sprung a 13-1 upset in a competitive The Very One, which was just her second try on turf and first win after having won the Iowa Oaks and been third in the Alabama (G1) on dirt in 2024. Lou Donato, Theodore Manziaris, Paul Borelli and Lanni Bloodstock’s Sultana (Post 3, 12-1) has raced exclusively in Canada with three wins from five starts last year, and will be making her first start since winning the 1 ¼-mile Maple Leaf (G3) on its synthetic surface Nov. 8.

Speed Shopper and Arya Stark, respectively 1-2 in the Clement, return in the Orchid. Gary Barber, Bridlewood Farm and Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners’ Speed Shopper (Post 5, 3-1) has been third or better in six of seven starts since joining trainer Will Walden in 2025, with a previous stakes win in the 1 ¼-mile Florence on Turfway Park’s synthetic surface in December. Hall of Famer John Velazquez, up in the Clement, rides back.

“She’s training really well and it looks like it’s a good spot. She seems to like the turf course, she retains Johnny V and she’s training super. We just couldn’t ask her to be doing any better, so we’re going in with a lot of confidence,” Walden said. “I think once we figured out three turns is kind of her bag, she’s just flourished. We couldn’t be happier with her. She’s a filly that just continues to put it all out there with every start and each one seems better than the last.”

Haymarket Farm’s Arya Stark (Post 1, 8-1), second to Speed Shopper in the Florence, set a moderate pace in the Clement and dug in gamely when her rival came calling late but had to settle for second, a neck ahead of Weighted Average. She won the 2024 Ramon Biaus (G2) going 1 3/8 miles on dirt in her native Argentina before coming to the U.S. Hall of Famer Joel Rosario has the call.

“She drew the one hole but she may not need the lead, either,” trainer Horacio De Paz said. “What do you do from the one hole? Rosario’s pretty good about taking them back. She seems to be a little bit versatile. She’ll sit close, but we’ll see how it plays out.”

The orchid, which thrives in tropical climates, makes up the traditional blanket of flowers that drapes the winner of the Florida Derby. The Orchid Stakes began as a dirt sprint in 1954 and has been run primarily on the grass since the late 1960s.