Melody Belle Auditions for Railway

The Informant reports:

Last season's champion two-year-old Melody Belle makes a welcome return to action at Ellerslie on Saturday, warming up for a shot at the Gr. 1 Sistema Railway at the same venue on New Year's Day.

The Commands filly scored four spectacular victories in her two-year-old season, including an emphatic win in the Karaka Million over the same course and distance as Saturday's $40,000 Ray White NZ 1200.  She later added the Gr. 1 Manawatu Sires' Produce Stakes at Awapuni and the Gr. 2 BTC Sires' Produce Stakes at Eagle Farm.

Melody Belle has had two trials to prepare her for Saturday's resuming run. She finished third at Cambridge in October, then scored an impressive Avondale victory over Dancing Flames and the subsequent Listed Counties Bowl winner Fully Funded.

“Her trial at Avondale a few weeks ago was excellent,” co-trainer Stephen Autridge told The Informant.

“Her work since then has been good and we're very happy with her heading into Saturday. Like a lot of other people out there, we're happy to have her back at the races this weekend.  As long as she performs well this weekend, the plan is for her to continue into the Railway on New Year's Day.”

Among her opposition on Saturday is her Group One-winning stablemate Heroic Valour. The son of Fastnet Rock was fifth first-up in the Listed Legacy Lodge Sprint, then improved on that run with a close third behind Fully Funded and Go Nicholas in the Counties Bowl.

“He went really well last time,” Autridge said. “We'd rather not run him against Melody Belle, but he's at that stage now where he's a bull and we've just got to race him.

“Like Melody Belle, he can carry on into the Railway and the other big sprint races like that if he performs well this weekend.”