At a glance
- Filly, Ontario-bred, foaled April 9, 2024
- By American Pharoah out of Belle of the North
- Trainer: Kevin Attard
- Acquired at 2025 CTHS Premier Yearling Sale
Behind the name
Payola is named in tribute to the Payola$, the Vancouver band that built its identity around core duo Paul Hyde and Bob Rock and one of the music industry’s most notorious words. For a stretch in the early 1980s, the Payola$ were one of the most prominent and successful bands in Canada.
Never needing to rely on the pay-for-radio play practice for which they were named, the Payola$ breakthrough came with No Stranger to Danger in 1982. Produced by Mick Ronson of David Bowie fame, the album was met with instant critical acclaim.
The album’s first single, “Eyes of a Stranger”, climbed to #4 on the Canadian chart, became the band’s signature hit, and pushed the album to platinum-selling status in Canada. The next single, “Romance,” also cracked the Top 40 and helped keep the album on the charts for most of the year.
Now a permanent piece of Canadian rock DNA. “Eyes of a Stranger” hit #1 at a Hall of Fame rock radio station in LA, turned up in the film Valley Girl and later on Miami Vice, and propelled the Payola$ into rare air.
At the 1983 Juno Awards, a great run turned into a haul: “Eyes of a Stranger” won Best Selling Single, Hyde and Rock won Composer of the Year, Bob Rock was named Recording Engineer of the Year for the album, and the band was crowned Canada’s Most Promising Group.
Then came the second act as Bob Rock went from Payola$ co-architect to one of the most consequential studio figures in rock.
After engineering and mixing every Payola$ recording, Winnipeg-born Rock went on to do the same for Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet and Aerosmith’s Permanent Vacation, then became one of the most important producers in rock music.
Rock produced Mötley Crüe’s Dr. Feelgood, the Cult’s Sonic Temple, and six consecutive Metallica albums, including the band’s self-titled juggernaut, The Black Album. He also produced albums for many fellow Canadians, including Bryan Adams, Loverboy, Jann Arden and Our Lady Peace. He has collected 29 Juno nominations and won nine times, including Producer of the Year in 2000, 2005, and 2010. The Tragically Hip notably took time out from their 2007 World Container Tour (yet another Rock-produced, Juno-nominated work) to join the master producer on stage as he accepted his official induction into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame. After producing several Grammy-winning works, Bob Rock won his first Grammy in 2014 as producer of Michael Bublé’s To Be Loved, an album that hit #1 in 11 countries.
About the sire
American Pharoah was a $300,000 yearling who developed into one of the defining racehorses of his generation. Retiring with a record of 11 starts, 9 wins, 1 second, and earnings of $8,650,300, his highlight victories included the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, Breeders’ Cup Classic, Del Mar Futurity, FrontRunner Stakes, Arkansas Derby, Belmont Stakes, and Haskell Invitational.
An Eclipse Award winner at two, American Pharoah was crowned Champion 3-Year-Old Male and Horse of the Year at three after becoming the first American Triple Crown winner in 37 years and the first horse to add the Breeders’ Cup Classic to that sweep in the same season.
Sired by Kentucky-bred millionaire Pioneerof the Nile, a Grade 1-winning son of Empire Maker, American Pharoah comes from a classic American dirt line associated with scope, stamina, and high-end cruising speed. At stud, he has he had sired 7 crops of racing age, 1,328 foals, 963 starters, 61 black-type winners, and 613 winners of 1,592 races with progeny earnings of $87,655,365.
American Pharoah’s elite commercial appeal and meaningful international production has delivered some top-level runners on both dirt and turf. Cafe Pharoah became a champion in Japan and won the February Stakes twice, compiling a 7-0-1 record and $5,447,518 in earnings in 17 starts. Riff Rocket won the Victoria Derby, Rosehill Guineas and Australian Derby among his 12 starts and advanced his record to 7-2-1 with more than $2.4 million in earnings. Danon Pharaoh won the Japan Dirt Derby and went 5-3-1 with $1,558,304 in earnings. As Time Goes By won the Grade 1 Beholder Mile and retired after 14 races with a record of 7-3-1 and $955,600 in purses. After 14 starts, G1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup winner Harvey’s Lil Goil retired with a 5-1-2 record and $899,172 in earnings. American Theorem won both the Grade 1 Bing Crosby and Grade 2 Triple Bend before retiring with $607,767 and a record of 4-4-0 in 17 attempts.
About the dam
Belle of the North was a black-type stakes-winning daughter of Street Boss who made eight starts, won twice, and earned $114,020. Kentucky-bred Street Boss was a powerful and record-breaking G1 winning sprinter sired by champion sire Street Cry whose progeny includes over 130 stakes-winners. Street Boss was sold for $300,000 as a yearling at the 2005 Keeneland September Sale and raced from 2007 to 2008 on synthetic at distances of 6 to 7 furlongs.
Belle of the North is out of Harley Rose, a daughter of 2008 Breeders’ Cup Classic runner-up Henrythenavigator (11 starts, 6-3-1, $2,766,763) and Vertigineux, which places her in the immediate female family of Hall of Famer, 3x Eclipse award winning Champion, and 2010 Horse of the Year Zenyatta. That gives Payola a bottom side connection to one of the most recognizable modern families in the North American stud book.
