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
Francine Villeneuve was a Canadian Thoroughbred jockey and racing pioneer. With 1,001 victories and 3,065 combined wins, places and shows, she retired in 2012 as the winningest female Canadian jockey of all time the first Canadian woman to achieve the 1,000-wins milestone.
When Francine crossed the finish line second in the Queen’s Plate, riding Wilderness Song, she made history as the first Canadian woman to ride in Canada’s oldest and most prestigious race and the first female place in it. Francine also became the first female winner of the prestigious Avelino Gomez Memorial Award as a Canadian jockey who made significant contributions to her sport.
After retiring from racing, “The Queen of Fort Erie,” remained active in the Canadian racing community, working first as a thoroughbred trainer, then a jockey’s agent, and later in thoroughbred sales as a consignor.
Francine Villeneuve died from cancer on June 5, 2026, at the age of 61. Well loved by the racing community at Woodbine, Fort Erie and other tracks, her loss is deeply felt.
Francine sold this daughter of American Pharoah to our club and shared with us how much she loved “Belle”. This filly wasn’t the last horse she consigned, but she was certainly among the last few.
The racing community lost a beauty on June 5th. While our filly already had a name at that time, we renamed her in Francine’s Honour.
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.
