First stakes success for Belardo as Isabella Giles dominates at Goodwood

Isabella Giles enhanced her position as the leading light from the maiden crop of Belardo as she provided the Kildangan Stud stallion with his first stakes win in the Group 3 Ladbrokes Prestige Stakes at Goodwood.

Already rated 98, Clive Cox's filly boasted victories at Leicester and Newbury and had finished fourth to Santosha in the Princess Margaret Stakes at Ascot last time.

Adam Kirby had the rest of their rivals for pressure from some way out and Isabella Giles powered clear by an impressive seven lengths in a race landed by subsequent Guineas heroine Billesdon Brook three years ago.

Bred by Ballylinch Stud, she was bought by Kevin Ross Bloodstock for €45,000 at last year's Goffs Sportsmans Sale and races for Paul and Clare Rooney.

Her dam, Majestic Dubawi, was also a juvenile Group 3 winner in the Firth of Clyde Stakes at Ayr while Ballylinch has engaged her latest Nathaniel colt in the Goffs Orby Yearling Sale.

Belardo moved to Kildangan after a successful racing careerCredit: Alan Crowhurst

"We were looking forward to stepping her up a a furlong and clearly Belardo's progeny have no difficulty with the soft ground," Cox told ITV Racing. "We really like her and that’s great. She’s an exciting filly."

Belardo, the European champion two-year-old who won the Dewhurst Stakes and later the Lockinge, was also bred by Ballylinch by its sire Lope De Vega.

He has been standing at Darley's Kildangan Stud in Ireland at a fee of €10,000 and was notching a neat double on the Downs among his seven individual winners so far when Lullaby Moon notched Goodwood's opening fillies' novice race.

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