Belle galloping her way toward another record

Written by Paul Vettise

Melody Belle (NZ) (Commands) seems likely to chase another Melbourne spring carnival victory, but whether it’s a Group 1 opportunity to edge her closer to the record for a New Zealand-trained mare is yet to be decided.

The Jamie Richards-prepared star took her tally to 10 with her victory romp in Saturday’s G1 Empire Rose S. at Flemington with the G1 Mackinnon S. or the G2 Matriarch S. next weekend the options under consideration.

“We’ll nominate for both and continue to assess her and a decision will be made by acceptance time,” Te Akau’s head trainer Jamie Richards said.

“Craig Thornton, who is there with her, said she’s well and I’ll go over in the middle of the week to keep an eye on her. As long as we are all happy she will back up in one of those races.”

Melody Belle, who leads the world with seven Group 1 wins in 2019, is second only to the great Sunline (NZ) (Desert Sun {GB}) for New Zealand mares in total Group 1 wins. Sunline racked up 13 top-flight titles during her illustrious career.

Trained by Trevor and Stephen McKee, she won only one – the Waikato Draught Sprint – on home soil in New Zealand, with two editions of the G1 Cox Plate, the Doncaster H. and the Coolmore Classic among her CV highlights and victory in the G1 Hong Kong Mile.

Third on the all-time list of Group 1 winning New Zealand-trained mares is Seachange (NZ) (Cape Cross {Ire}) with seven and next best Horlicks (NZ) (Sir Tristram {Ire}) with five. She also won the 1989 Japan Cup, then carrying only Listed status, for Dave and Paul O’Sullivan.

Princess Coup (Encosta de Lago) and Snap (NZ) (Kingdom Bay {NZ}) each recorded four Group 1 wins apiece.

Sydney campaign

Whichever task Melody Belle is set this Saturday, she will have future chances to close in on Sunline’s record with a Sydney autumn campaign planned and beyond that her future is unclear.

“I’d love to keep her in training, but we’ll have to wait and see about that,” Richards said. “She’s a pleasure to train, just a straight-forward professional.”

Integral to the on-going success of Melody Belle, who earlier this year was the subject of an unsuccessful offer from Australia of more than NZ$3 million, has been the sound management of her racing career.

“She has been well looked after throughout her career. We took her to Brisbane as a 2-year-old and then gave her a good break and didn’t go to Christchurch for the Guineas,” Richards said.

“As a 4-year-old we didn’t run her in all the Triple Crown races at Hastings and then she had a good break before this preparation as well.”