Rising Bella Wins Peach Blossom For Munnings

Rising Bella (4f Munnings x Striking Bella, by Smart Strike) added the Peach Blossom Stakes to her resume on Wednesday with an easy 1 ½ length victory at Delaware Park.

Looking for her second consecutive victory, Rising Bella broke well and was guided to the fourth position by Carol Cedeno. Racing between two other horses in the 7 ½ furlong race on the turf, the filly raced comfortably down the backstretch within striking range of the leaders.

Circling the field, Rising Bella showed a big turn of foot to run down the leader and win by 1 ½ lengths as the race favorite for owner Lowell Kinch.

Trained by Steve Klesaris, Rising Bella is now the winner of four of her fourteen starts for over $137,000 in earnings. The filly was also stakes placed as a juvenile and was a winner at three.

The Timothy Rooney-bred is a half-sister to stakes-placed Sunrise Sunset and out of a half-sister to stakes winner Londonnetdotcom, who is also the dam of multiple Group II-placed Emell with another half-sister producing Group III winner Ramone.

Striking Bella’s third dam is the multiple Group I winner Infra Green, who also produced Group III winners Ecologist, Infrasonic, and Green Reef. The family also includes Group I St. Leger winner Toulon among others.

Booked full in 2021, Munnings is a top five sire with 10 stakes winners and 22 blacktype performers, led by Grade I winner Kimari.