Triple Crown 2025 contender owners - Brian Coelho and John Bellinger (BC Stables) - American Promise

A small favor can go a long way. Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas got a call from a veterinarian he’s friends with, Dr. Charles Graham, asking if Lukas could get a couple of his friends, Brian Coelho and John Bellinger, to attend and watch the Kentucky Derby. “They wanted to go to the Derby, and I accommodated them,” Lukas said. “They had a great time. They said someday they’d like to get into racing in a few years. Then John called me one day and said, 'we are ready to jump in.’ And they did really get serious about it.”

They went to the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale and spent major money buying yearlings. One of them, Just Steel, a $500,000 purchase, ran second in the 2024 Gr. 1 Arkansas Derby and finished 17th in the G.1 Kentucky Derby, Lukas’ first Derby starter since 2018. Just Steel then finished fifth in the Gr. 1 Preakness Stakes despite injuring himself. He has since recovered and is back racing.

This year, BC Stables are going back to the Run for the Roses with American Promise, a $750,000 Keeneland September Yearling purchase who was a dominant victor of the $500,000 Virginia Derby.

In 2021, Lukas’ horses earned just under $1.4 million. They jumped up to $4.1 million in 2022, $4.5 million in 2023 and just under $5.5 million last year.

When approached by Bellinger and Coelho, Lukas paused: “I thought, I’m going to be 87 (in 2022) that summer. I think maybe they ought to go with a younger guy. But I asked them how they felt about that and they were perfectly comfortable with that.”

With two Derby starters in two years, how comfortable do you think they are now? “Wayne’s devoted a lot of time to us,” Coelho said. “Just the time spent with Wayne the last few years talking, I’ve learned a tremendous amount about the industry and him as a person. He has a great mind for horses. Understands their physical characteristics and their minds. They’ve got a lot of good people on the team.”

Bellinger said, “We have about 30 horses, all with Wayne. We’re committed to Wayne. He’s committed to us. It’s worked well. Wayne is an incredible charmer. He’s a salesman, and he’s an optimist and just a good guy.”

Brian Coelho and John Bellinger had a business relationship well before they plunged into horse racing as partners. Coelho is the president and CEO of the family-owned Coelho Meat Company in Hanford, California. “In 1981, my father started Coelho Meat Company with three employees, processing 15 head of cattle a day,” Coelho wrote on the company’s website. “From our humble beginning, we have not forgotten our core principle of `Excellence Beyond Expectation.’”

Coelho explained, “Success is attributed to slow growth, hard work and diligence. Being conservative over the years. Continue to invest back in the business. We’ve acquired two more businesses in the last six years. We process 4,500 cattle a day with 3,000 employees. John was in the laboratory business, a lot of food testing for meat companies. That’s how I got to know John and his wife.”

Bellinger is based in San Antonio, Texas, and is on the Board of Regents at Texas A & M. He received the Texas A & M Outstanding Alumnus of Animal Science and was inducted into the U.S. Meat Industry Hall of Fame in 2022. He has owned several companies: “Brian was a customer of our Food Safety Net Services for testing food products. We did his testing and his auditing. That’s how I met Brian 15 years ago. We started the company in 1994, my wife Gina and I. We sold it in July, 2021. I stayed on as CEO.”

Growing up on a farm, Bellinger has always had a fondness for horses. He wanted in on Thoroughbreds, and called Coelho, who agreed to become partners.

Not too many years later, they were doing the walkover in the 2024 Kentucky Derby. “It was emotionally inspiring,” Coelho said. “One of the most enjoyable experiences.”

Bellinger agreed: “It’s phenomenal. We were blessed to be in the Derby. A lot of people say, `once in a lifetime.’”

This first Saturday in May, it will be twice in two years. And Lukas has a strong feeling about American Promise: “He’s a May baby. All those three-year-olds come around in the spring when you’re getting them ready for those Triple Crown type races. He’s 17 hands and a big-framed horse. I was telling my wife this morning, every day I fool with this horse, he’s moving in the right direction. He’s absolutely getting his act together. I told Brian and John over two months ago, `I think he’s absolutely going to take us where we want to go. And yet, you have to see it, and in Virginia, we did.”

The bond between Coelho and Bellinger remains strong. Coelho and his wife Stacy’s two daughters, Emma and Avery, both attend Texas A & M. “They were both looking for a good agricultural school,” Coelho said. “They got a nudge from John.”

Bellinger said this of their relationship: “It’s just great. Partners can go one way or another. Brian and I work well together. No disagreements. I don’t know that either one of us would have bought the quality of horses that we did if we bought separately.”