Melody Belle Stars Again

The Informant reports:

A superb victory in today's Haunui Farm WFA Classic at Otaki
confirmed the supremacy of star mare Melody Belle and her champion
jockey Opie Bosson.

For Melody Belle, it was a fourth Group One win for this season and a
fifth overall. Madison County and Danzdanzdance have also been
impressive winning multiple Group One races during 2018-19, but Melody
Belle has shaken free of that pair and now stands alone.

In Bosson's case, today's $200,000 Otaki feature completed a full set of all 21 Group One races on the New Zealand calendar.

“I quite enjoyed winning that race today, since it's the only Group
One in New Zealand that I hadn't won,” he said. “To get the whole lot
now is an achievement I'm quite proud of.

“I hadn't ridden in it that often because it always clashes with
Matamata, but to be on a quality mare like Melody Belle today was
terrific.”

“I hadn't ridden in it that often because it always clashes with Matamata, but to be on a quality mare like Melody Belle today was terrific.”

Melody Belle's season has had its ups and downs, from the brilliance
of her Tarzino Trophy-Windsor Park Plate double in the spring to her
brave third after a wide run in the Gr. 1 Railway Stakes and mystifying
failure in the Gr. 1 Telegraph.

She bounced back earlier this month with a stunning last-gasp lunge
to win the BCD Group Sprint at Te Rapa, and today she was a class above a
star-studded weight-for-age field.

The daughter of Commands began only fairly from her wide gate and had
the potential to be caught in no man's land, sitting sixth and three
wide after the first 200 metres. But Bosson slid her forward to be
fourth and right on the heels of Consensus, Endless Drama and Bostonian.

Melody Belle surged forward rounding the home turn, challenging for
the lead out wide on the track. The locally trained Wyndspelle cut the
corner and provided the sternest challenge down the straight, but Melody
Belle drew clear to win by a length and three-quarters.

“She probably didn't jump as well as I'd hoped, but she travelled
beautifully and I knew she'd be hard to beat from about the 600,” said
Bosson, who is now unbeaten in four rides on Melody Belle.

“She's such a professional racehorse and never knows when to lie
down. She gets through wet tracks and handles racing on top of the
ground, nothing worries her at all.”

Bred by Marie Leicester and sold at Karaka by today's Group One race
sponsors Haunui Farm, Melody Belle was a $57,500 purchase by Te Akau
Racing principal David Ellis.

Trained by Jamie Richards for the Fortuna Melody Belle Syndicate,
Melody Belle has now won 10 of her 19 starts and more than $1.5 million
in prize-money.

“If you'd said at the start of the season that she'd run in seven
races, winning five of them including four Group Ones, we wouldn't have
believed it,” Fortuna manager John Galvin said.

“She really is amazing. She's been the benchmark horse of the season,
but you've still got to go out there and do it. There was some
confidence coming into today, but not 100 per cent confidence. This was
really special.”

Wyndspelle took second by half a length from Consensus.

It was Wyndspelle's fifth Group One placing, following on from the
Diamond Stakes at Ellerslie, Kennedy Mile at Flemington, Windsor Park
Plate at Hastings and Thorndon Mile at Trentham. Consensus placed in
this race for the second year in a row, having chased home Devise 12
months ago.

Three-year-old More Wonder made an eye-catching late run to finish
fourth, half a head behind Consensus. This was his fourth Group One
start of the season, having previously finished fourth in the Levin
Classic and fifth in the New Zealand 2000 Guineas and Thorndon Mile. He
is likely to back up in the New Zealand Derby next Saturday.

Bostonian was another head away in fifth, with a short head to Shadows Cast in sixth.

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