Bella Union

John C McConnell's Stamullen yard has backed Bella Union through a long career. The trainer has sent out 36 winners this season, and Bella Union represents the kind of steady, consistent horse that smaller yards rely on. Her first win came at Bellewstown on 18 April 2026, and she claimed her second victory two weeks later at Down Royal — but that was four months ago now, suggesting a dry spell since. Still, her recent six-race sequence tells a different story: she has placed in four of those races, with two wins tucked in among them. The runs read as: a win, a place, a miss, a place, a place, and a miss. That is the pattern of a horse beginning to understand what it takes.

There is a ceiling to what Bella Union can achieve. At the highest level of racing she has encountered — top-tier races — she has no wins from four attempts. Her home ground appears to be the smaller tracks, where she can mix it with horses of a similar level. But for a horse in the latter half of a long career, picking up wins at all is worth celebrating. At 10 years old, Bella Union is still racing and still winning. That alone puts her ahead of most horses that ever take to the track.