Brendan Walsh Joins The TDN Writers’ Room Podcast Presented By Keeneland

Wandering Eyes · 2026-02-18T17:52:18Z

It was a big weekend for trainer Brendan Walsh, whose Bella Ballerina (Street Sense) was a game winner of the GII Rachel Alexandra Stakes. A half-sister to Pretty Mischievous (Into Mischief), the 2023 GI Kentucky Oaks winner, who was also trained by Walsh, the trainer is hoping to pull off what would be a unique daily double–winning the Oaks twice within four years with half-siblings.

To discuss the Rachel Alexandra win, his take on Bella Ballerina and what he has planned on the way to the Oaks, Walsh joined this week's TDN Writers' Room Podcast presented by Keeneland. He was the Gainesway Guest of the Week.

It was not an easy victory for Bella Ballerina, who was passed in the stretch by Luv Your Neighbor (Constitution), but battled back in deep stretch to win by a half-length under Tyler Gaffalione.

“I thought it was a very game performance,” Walsh said. “When she was coming down the stretch, it looked like she was beaten. I thought to myself, 'You know, she's run well. We've got what we needed to get out of it. She'll improve a ton the next time she starts back up again.' I thought, 'Well, OK, we'll take that.' But yes, it was just a game performance on her part. It's the first time she's ever been headed.”

The similarities between Pretty Mischievous and Bella Ballerina go beyond the fact that they are half-sisters, as both won the Rachel Alexandra. Bella Ballerina will start next in the March 21 GII Fair Grounds Oaks. Pretty Mischievous was second in that race before going on to win the Kentucky Oaks.

“(Bella Ballerina) was a little trickier when she was a baby,” Walsh said. “She had her own ideas about certain things. But all credit goes to the team. They got her straightened out. We worked on her last year. She was just a little bit of a play girl at the time. She'd try and get up to a few little tricks, but nothing horrible.”

Walsh liked what he saw Saturday.

“Tyler came in and he worked her a bunch of times last year and more this year,” he said. “He got to know her. She behaved very well on Saturday. She behaved very well before the race. She behaved very well in the race, and I think that had a lot to do with Tyler. There are a lot of similarities between the two horses. (Bella Ballerina) is getting stronger and, physically, she looks more like Pretty Mischievous did at this point. The good ones, they all have that class, and she seems to have an abundance of it. She's got a very good mind, and I think that's going to be super important going forward.”

Walsh has come a long way from the young man who began his career with the powerful Godolphin team galloping horses.

“It's unbelievable,” he said. “It's like the stuff you dream of. I spent years in Dubai and around all those good horses that they had at Al Quoz. Did I ever think I was going to actually be in a position where I would be training for them? Absolutely not. It is a dream come true. It's unbelievable to have access to that standard of a horse every year and to get to work with these horses and these people. They're just the most fantastic people to work with. You wake up in the morning and you pinch yourself. Believe me, I'm under no illusions. It's a privileged position and it's great to be there.”

Walsh also spoke of his mentor in the U.S., trainer Eddie Kenneally. Walsh served as his assistant before going out on his own in 2012.

“Learning to train in the U.S., it was a huge adjustment,” he said. “It's a completely different ball game. You're dealing with a different type of horse. Dubai was very turf-orientated. That was one thing with Eddie. I really got to learn how to get down to the nitty gritty of it with him. Even when riding horses, dirt horses are different than grass horses. Turf horses have this turn of foot, and when you work them you see that they have a serious turn of foot. Dirt horses tend to be more constant. They cruise along, cruise along, cruise along. It's just completely different, and that's just to name a couple of things. There are thousands of other different angles when you start training over here. Eddie taught me so much. He's a fantastic trainer.”

The “Fastest Horse of the Week” was Grande (Curlin), who earned a 105 Beyer figure when winning a Feb. 14 allowance race at Gulfstream. It was his first start since he finished second in the GII Wood Memorial Stakes. The Fastest Horse of the Week segment is sponsored by WinStar, which stands the fast sire Nashville.

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by the PHBA, 1/ST TV, and West Point Thoroughbreds, Randy Moss, Bill Finley, and Zoe Cadman discussed the solid performance from Forever Young (Jpn) (Reel Steel {Jpn}) in the $20 million Saudi Cup and the terrific rail-skimming ride he got from jockey Ryusei Sakai. The team also discussed the wins in Saudi Arabia by the American-based sprinters Imagination (Into Mischief) and Reef Runner (The Big Beast). Recapping the rest of the weekend's action, the win by Paladin (Gun Runner) in the Risen Star Stakes was given high marks by the panel.

Click here to listen to the podcast or click here to watch.