Irish mare back in Offaly County

Oakwoodanabella IR, the 5-year-old daughter of Foreclosure N who had a whirlwind tour of the U.S., before an injury curtailed her career, is back home.

Being home means that the Irish-bred mare has returned to Ireland, to the folks that bred her—that being brothers Derek and James Delaney, at their Oakwood Stud in County Offaly, Ireland.

“She is a 100% homebred by our resident stallion Foreclosure N,” said Derek Delaney. “Her dam, Carmel Camden was the Irish 2- and 3-year-old champion mare that my brother James trained and raced before breeding her. We sold Anabella as a yearling for £6,500 at Brightwells Sales in Wales, United Kingdom (U.K.) and didn’t have any part in her ownership when she raced in the U.S., but we followed her very closely along with all of the Irish and British racing fraternity.”

Oakwoodanabella IR is the first foal out of the No Pan Intended mare Carmel Camden, and has a full brother in the gelding Oakwood Paddy, Jr. p, 4, Q1:57f ($44,537). Her third foal is a filly, born this spring, by Always B Miki and owned by Oakwood Stud.

Prior to her North American jaunt, this gutsy mare was the fastest 2-year-old in the history of Irish and U.K. racing, and still holds the record of 1:58.3 on a half-mile track. She was timed in the U.K. in 1:57.3 at 2 as well. After winning six of six over Irish raceways, beginning in August through late November of 2020, and earning $14,917, the owner—Denis Copse of County Limerick, Ireland—decided to send her to America to race.

“She was training back as a 3-year-old with John and Vicky Gill of York, U.K., and was showing tremendous

speed in qualifying, so the owners decided she was too good for Ireland, and they shipped her to Brian Brown,” Derek offered.

“There was a guy on Facebook from Ireland who I was bantering back and forth with and had told me for two years he was going to send me a horse,” Brian explained. “That guy never did send me one, but then these other people reached out and told me they were sending me this filly and that she was on her way. That’s how I got her.”

After arriving in the U.S. in mid-summer, 2021, Oakwoodanabella IR qualified at Scioto Downs on Aug.31, pacing in 1:55.4 with Austin Hanners in the sulky. Her parimutuel debut came ten days later at Scioto in a
$13,000 overnight, when she scored an impressive 10¾ length triumph for driver Cameron McCown in 1:53.

Seven days later she paced to a winning 1:50.4 victory at Scioto with Austin Hanners back in the bike. Her owners thought so much of her that they supplemented her to the Jugette for $15,000.

“She was really something,” Brian recalled. “She came over and had to spend three weeks in quarantine, and then almost another three weeks to get her DNA certified, but she had no trouble getting right down to the business of racing. Her third start over here was in the Jugette. We really asked a lot of her early.”

Oakwoodanabella IR finished a strong second by a head to Test Of Faith in her $50,760 Jugette elimination, and then was third in the $152,280 Jugette Final behind Scarlett Hanover and Test Of Faith, clocked in 1:56.4 with Ronnie Wrenn, Jr., at the controls.

“One of her biggest achievements was for her to race in the Jugette after a couple of overnight races and be second in her heat to Test Of Faith in terrible weather conditions and third in the final with very limited time to adjust to that level of racing,” Derek stressed. “We were all just so proud of her and the buzz she gave us as breeders from racing in the Jugette, to taking on Test Of Faith in :25.4 last quarters at The Meadowlands, and to be the fastest ever 3-year-old exported to the U.S. from this side of the Atlantic. I think she is the first 3-year-old pacing filly to race in the Jugette who was bred outside the U.S.”

Oakwoodanabella IR won her next start easily in a seasonal best 1:49.3 by nearly six lengths for Cameron McCown at Dayton on Oct. 1, then was second to Test of Faith in the $100,000 She’s A Great Lady at Northfield on Oct. 16. Two weeks later, she scored a resounding 1:51.3 win at The Meadowlands in a $36,000 Filly and Mares winner’s over with Tim Tetrick in the sulky, before wrapping up the season with a third-place finish in the $120,000 USS Indianapolis Memorial on Nov. 5 at Hoosier Park, pacing in 1:49.4 with David Miller at the controls.

Her seasonal totals clocked in at four wins, two seconds, and two thirds in eight starts, with $109,498 in earnings for 2021.

“She wasn’t a real tall horse, but she had such a huge gait on her that you’d think she was a lot bigger than she was,” Brian offered.

The hardy Irish-bred mare was given nearly a six-month break between her 3- and 4-year-old campaigns, before qualifying at Miami Valley Raceway on April 15, 2022, in a respectable 1:54 for Cameron McCown. She promptly went out and won her first two starts at Hoosier Park, in 1:52 and 1:49.4, before finishing second by a neck to Test Of Faith in a $25,000 Graduate division at The Meadowlands in 1:49.4 for Dexter Dunn on May 14.

“She battled Test of Faith all the way to the wire with Test of Faith pacing a :25.4 last quarter and Bella pacing :25.3 herself,” Derek recalled. “That race was in terrible weather conditions; torrential rain, and the track was rated with a two second allowance and they went in 1:49.4. That effort was pretty impressive in those weather conditions.”

Two weeks later, Oakwoodanabella IR put in a solid 1:53 qualifier at Scioto Downs on May 28, then captured a $40,000 Graduate leg at Woodbine in 1:50.2 for Todd McCarthy on June 4. Her next three starts in the Graduate Series saw her perform less than her best, and she was given a brief break before qualifying once more at Scioto on Aug. 13, where she paced in 1:55 for Koltin Noble. She then won the $29,000 Filly and Mares Open at Scioto on Aug. 19 in a career best 1:49.2 by nearly three lengths for Cameron McCown and followed that up with a third-place finish in a similar event a week later at that same track.

Before her Sept. 16 outing, when she captured a $22,500 overnight at Harrah’s Philadelphia in 1:50.4 with Tim Tetrick at the lines, Oakwoodanabella IR was transferred to the Jimmy King, Jr., Stable in Delaware, where she would stay for five starts. However, that victory would be the last triumph of her career, as the mare did not appear to have the same stamina that had been her trademark earlier in her American journey. She was purchased by Bottom Line Racing and Let It Ride Stables—both of Boca Raton, FL .—on Nov. 29, 2022, and then transferred to trainer Michael Hall’s barn.

“I didn’t have her that long,” Jimmy King, Jr., noted. “She was a nice mare but didn’t seem to have the pop she had earlier in her career. Mike Hall picked her up from me after Eric Cherry bought her and that’s the last I saw of her.”

Oakwoodanabella IR finished fourth in 1:55 for Hall and driver Simon Allard on Dec. 28 at Dover Downs in a $18,000 Winner’s Over, and made one start in 2023, on Jan. 11, where she was also fourth, this time clocked in 1:53.2 for this same driver-trainer combo. Whereas the mare’s last quarters had previously been in :27 or better, she now was pacing her final brushes in the :28 range, and the decision was made to retire her. When she left the track for the final time, she had $212,960 in career earnings.

“We owned her for a few starts,” Eric Cherry said. “But she wasn’t sound, and we couldn’t get her to become sound, so we sold her back to the breeder.”

“James and I decided to buy her back and bring her home to start a new career as a broodmare after everything she’s done for us, and for Irish and British harness racing. After all the highs that she gave us as breeders we just thought it was the right thing to do—expensive yes—but the right thing to do,” Derek offered. “I thought she gave a real good account of herself to go over there (to the US) and take on top-level competition like that and be competitive at the level. It just showed how versatile and how good of a mare she really was.

After being sold back to Oakwood Stud on Feb. 15, 2023, Oakwoodanabella IR returned to her native country, and the Oakwood Stud facility, where her sire, Foreclosure N stands.

“We are partners with Diamond Creek Farm and have frozen semen here for Always B Miki, Captain Crunch, and Sweet Lou,” Derek explained. “We have bred Oakwoodanabella to Captain Crunch and is carrying her first foal, and we will probably breed her to Sweet Lou next year, and Always B Miki the following year.

Oakwoodanabella IR has acclimatized perfectly at the home of her foaling, Derek added.

“She has settled in really well and seems happy to be home,” he noted. “Bella is one cool horse to be around; she is so chilled and has a great temperament around people, but she won’t take any BS from any of the other horses. She has that dominant streak in her even though she is kind natured. I sum it up in a word—she is all class. She likes to play with the other mare’s foals in the field, so I’m sure she will be a great mother just like her mum is—she has all the right attributes to be a top broodmare.”

While it is apparent that Oakwoodanabella IR added a global element of excitement and inspiration to the American harness racing scene, she also did as much for the Irish and U.K. racing communities.

“The morale over here (in Ireland and the U.K.) when Bella was racing in the Jugette reminded me of a World Cup football atmosphere,” Derek related. “Some people organized parties to watch her race and the excitement around it was electric, everyone involved in the sport had their eyes peeled on Bella and were rooting for her. It was a very special time in the sport to think that one horse could do that and bring everyone together like that. She is a real star, and it’s a memory that will last a lifetime.”

by Kimberly Rinker, for Harnesslink