Distance Suits Bellezza in Robert G. Dick Memorial

Bellezza (IRE), proficient at 1 3/8 miles on turf, plays to her strength at the distance when she faces Alluring Angel (GB) and four others in the June 13 Robert G. Dick Memorial Stakes (G3T) at Delaware Park. The $250,000 race is over the same 1 3/8-mile trip in which she won last year's Flower Bowl Stakes (G2T) at Saratoga Race Course and the Sheepshead Bay Stakes (G3T) at Aqueduct Racetrack. Her only loss in three starts at the distance last year was a sixth-place finish against top-level competition in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1T) at Del Mar last fall. The Moyglare Stud Farm homebred daughter of Siyouni (FR) raced in Ireland for her first seven starts before coming stateside to compete for trainer Christophe Clement and later his son, Miguel, following Christophe's death last spring. She is 2-1-1 in six United States starts, and 4-3-2 from 13 overall races with career earnings of $615,622. Her lone start this year was disappointing, bidding in the middle stages of the March 28 Orchid Stakes (G3T) at Gulfstream Park before flattening out to finish sixth, beaten 2 3/4 lengths. Returning from a longer hiatus is Lawrence Goichman's 2025 Long Island Stakes (G3T) winner Alluring Angel, who has been out of action for almost five months for trainer Bill Mott after twice going unplaced in stakes following the Long Island. Other contenders include group 1 winner Dona Clota (CHI) and graded-placed Storm Miami (IRE).