In the early months of 2022, Bell Racing Farm and veteran trainer Donato Sordan were devastated when their stable star Union Bell, had to be retired from racing prematurely, due to on-going tendon issues. It was no doubt a hard loss to accept; he was their brilliant sprinter miler, and a much-loved crowd favorite that had won eight of his twelve starts. What made the retirement even more painful, was that Union Bell was one of the very first foreign bred foals born on the farm, being out of Tocqueville, an Argentinian mare brought from their first overseas broodmare buying venture.