Bolshoi Ballet (IRE)

Bolshoi Ballet won two Group 3 stakes races in his first two starts of 2021. This Irish-bred son of the late Galileo won the P.W. McGrath Memorial Ballysax Stakes at Leopardstown on April 24, then took the Derrinstown Stud Derby Trial Stakes at the same track on May 9.

Off those two wins, Bolshoi Ballet was the favorite in the Group 1 Cazoo Derby at Epsom on Jun. 5. However, he was no factor and ended up a well-beaten seventh.

Undeterred, Bolshoi Ballet was shipped to the United States to run in the Grade 1 Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes at Belmont Park on Jul. 10. He made his American debut a winning one, rushing by his rivals late to win going away under Ryan Moore, for trainer Aidan O'Brien. That marked the second win in the race for O'Brien, and the first win for Moore. 

Bolshoi Ballet was unable to match his Belmont Derby Invitational success the rest of the year in 2021 as he finished out his season with fourth place finishes in the Saratoga Derby Invitational and the Jockey Club Derby Invitational before competing in the Breeders' Cup Turf at Del Mar and finishing sixth.

Bolshoi Ballet missed most of the 2022 season with just one start that calendar year with a fourth-place finish in a synthetic surface stakes race at Lingfield, England. He began his 5-year-old season in 2023 with four consecutive losses in turf races in Ireland and England and was used as a rabbit in a sixth-place finish in the Group 1 Ging George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Royal Ascot on July 29. With that, Bolshoi Ballet was set for a return to the states hoping to find similar Grade 1 success as he had earlier in his career as a 3-year-old.

The target for Bolshoi Ballet was the Grade 1 $750,000 Sword Dancer Stakes going 1 1/2 miles at Saratoga on Aug. 26. Sent off as the fifth betting choice on the tote board in a field of six, Bolshoi Ballet stalked the pace close up and moved to challenge the leaders at the top of the stretch and pulled away through the lane for a decisive 4 1/2-length score. The Sword Dancer was a Breeders' Cup Challenge Series "win and you're in" race and with his victory, Bolshoi Ballet earned at automatic spot in the starting gate for the Longines Breeders' Cup Turf on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita.