Written by Paul Vettise
Ten-time Group 1 winner Melody Belle (NZ) (Commands) is on target to resume in Saturday week’s G1 Windsor Park Plate at Hawke’s Bay following an encouraging trial on Tuesday morning.
The Jamie Richards-trained mare won her 1215 metre open heat at Rotorua under regular partner Opie Bosson.
“We were more than happy, and obviously the trial was there as a test for Melody Belle to see where she was at and give us some line on her as to whether she would be capable of running in the mile. She ticked all the boxes,” said John Galvin, who manages the Melody Belle Fortuna Syndicate that owns the mare.
“I think it was a perfect trial and she got back a little bit worse than midfield. Opie reported that she was a bit flat as they turned in, but we wanted her to do a bit of work and she got home strongly without being under any undue pressure.
“She had a bit of a blow afterwards so she will take a lot of improvement from the trial.”
Watch: Melody Belle (NZ) trial
Melody Belle wasn’t among the first nominations for the Windsor Park Plate, which she has won for the last two years, but can be supplemented.
“There’s a late nomination fee for the Windsor Park due on September 29. Now she has come through the trial she will gallop on Saturday with Avantage and again on Tuesday morning,” Galvin said.
“At that point in time, if we are all happy, we will pay the late nomination fee.”
Fortunes turned around
While Melody Belle’s effort was far from surprising, the winning performance of a 3-year-old stablemate also in the Fortuna colours was unexpected.
Our Final Offer (Deep Field) sat in second spot to the turn in his 1000 metre heat before drawing clear in the straight for rider Troy Harris.
“That was a total and utter shock. He’s a bit weak and has got a bad attitude and his previous trial was a shocker,” Galvin said. “We put blinkers and ear muffs on him and to be fair he did get a better track.
“He was running along quite nicely and as they turned and I thought here we go, he’ll fade out now but he kept on going.
“We’ll weigh up some options for him and the Deep Fields are going really well. It’s nice to take two to the trials and come home with two wins.”
Our Final Offer as a yearling
Our Final Offer was bought at the New Zealand Bloodstock National Yearling Sale, where he was offered by Phoenix Park, for NZ$100,000 with Te Akau chief David Ellis with Fortuna signing the ticket.
He is out of Egyptian Melody (Exceed And Excel), a daughter of the G2 Aqueduct Comely S. winner Sherine (USA) (Precise End {USA}). The G1 Arkansas Derby winner and sire Bodemeister (USA) features on the pedigree page.
