Page 76 - NMHBA Spring 2022

SUNLAND PARK
Enchantress Stakes (R)
Photos by Coady Photography
Attila’s Storm
Forest Wildcat
Sweet Symmetry
Charlotte’s Drone
B. G.’s Drone
Charlotte’s Ego
BELLA DONA
Making her first start at the 1-mile distance, Bella Dona was a prompt 2-5 favorite in the February 20, $100,000 Enchantress Stakes (R) for New Mexico-bred 3-year-old fillies at Sunland Park.
Bella Dona defeated 5-1 second choice Corrina Corrina by 1 1/2 lengths while covering the eight-furlong distance in 1:37.57 under jockey Luis Fuentes. Simon Buechler trained the bay daughter of Attila’s Storm for owners Robert M. Driggers, Del Rae Driggers and Ben Lee Ivey.
Bella Dona was stretching out in distance off of her wire-to-wire, four-length victory
in the 6-furlong, $100,000 La Senora Stakes (R) on January 16. The filly was bred by Robert and Del Rae Driggers and she is one of 24 official black-type stakes winners from a dozen crops sired by the late Attila’s Storm, a Kentucky-bred son of the Storm Cat stallion Forest Wildcat.
Racing from 2004-07, Attila’s Storm earned $534,983 from 18 outs and his five wins included a 1 1/2-length victory in the 2007 Toboggan Handicap (G3) at Aqueduct. The stallion has sired the earners of more than $15.3 million from 245 starters, including five-time stakes winner Waltzing Attila and multiple stakes winners Flight Song, Stormin The Jewels and Hush’s Storm.
Attila’s Storm died after colic surgery on June 23, 2021.
Bella Dona is one of five winners from as many starters produced by Charlotte’s Drone, an unplaced 17-year-old New Mexico-bred daughter of B.G.’s Drone. The filly is a full sister to Tilla Cat, the winner of three stakes in New Mexico from 2016-18, and she is a half-sister to 2020 New Mexico Cup Derby Championship (R) winner Lariat.
Bella Dona’s second dam, the New Mexico- bred Tilt The Odds mare Charlotte’s Ego, won three stakes in New Mexico from 1997-2001, including the 1997 La Senora Handicap. Bella Dona’s fourth dam, Fanny Falcon, was a New Mexico-bred daughter of the Crimson Satan stallion Crimson Falcon who won the 1981 New Mexican Stakes at The Downs at Santa Fe. A 1979 foal, Fanny Falcon was a half-sister to the stakes-placed Traffic Mark colt Ernest Pal and she produced four winners from six starters, including Stryker Ego, a Bold Ego gelding who won the 1993 Ruidoso Horse Sale Thoroughbred Futurity (R) at Sunland Park.
Bella Dona made her career debut with a 4 1/4-length victory in a 4 1/2-furlong maiden- special-weight race at Turf Paradise on April
14, 2021. The filly has won seven of eight
races and the $60,000 winner’s share of the Enchantress Stakes purse bumped her earnings to $375,068. Her five stakes wins include last year’s 5 1/2-furlong, $125,000 Rio Grande Senorita Futurity (R) at Ruidoso Downs, and 6-furlong,
$235,000 New Mexico State Fair Thoroughbred Futurity (R) at Albuquerque Downs.
Desert Spirit finished third, 10 3/4 lengths behind Bella Dona. Right For You, Bernice Who, La Diamant, Indian Excellence, Delia, Running For Grace and Hollywood Princess completed the order of finish.
A homebred dark bay or brown daughter of the Old Trieste stallion Mr. Trieste, runner-up Corrina Corrina races for Derrick W. Jenkins and she was coming off of a head victory in a 1-mile, $26,000 maiden-special-weight route at Sunland Park on January 15. The filly has banked $51,790 from five outs, all in New Mexico. Desert Spirit is a chestnut daughter of the Desert God stallion Proceed campaigned by Dale F. Taylor Racing LLC. A maiden, the filly earned $10,000 to bring her bankroll to $26,080 from five races.
74 New Mexico Horse Breeder