Melody Belle (NZ) Wins Fifth Group 1

Superstar Karaka graduate Melody Belle (NZ) (Commands) was outstanding yet again in Saturday’s $200,000 Haunui Farm WFA Classic (1600m) at Otaki, scoring her fifth Group 1 victory and her fourth for this season.

The winner of the Group 1 Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m) and the Karaka Million (1200m) as a two-year-old along with a Group 2 in Queensland, the $57,500 Premier Sale purchase has gone to a new level this season.

Following a first-up win in the Group 2 Foxbridge Plate (1200m), Melody Belle has won the Group 1 Tarzino Trophy (1400m), Windsor Park Plate (1600m), BCD Group Sprint (1400m) and Saturday’s Haunui Farm Classic.

Stuck wide in midfield in the early stages after a slow start, Melody Belle slid forward to sit in fourth place approaching the home turn.

Jockey Opie Bosson brought Melody Belle to the outside at the top of the straight to make her bid, and the all-conquering mare swept to the lead.

Fellow Karaka graduate Wyndspelle (NZ) (Iffraaj) provided plenty of fight down on the inside, but Melody Belle was clearly superior and scored by a length and three-quarters.

Melody Belle was bred by Marie Leicester and was offered at the 2016 Premier Sale by Saturday’s race sponsors Haunui Farm. Te Akau Racing principal David Ellis bought her for $57,500.

Trained by Jamie Richards for the Fortuna Melody Belle Syndicate, the remarkable mare has won 10 of her 19 starts and more than $1.5 million in prize-money – 26 times her purchase price.

“She’s amazing isn’t she,” Fortuna manager John Galvin said. “She really is amazing.

“She has been the benchmark horse of the season, but you still have to get out there and do it.

“This one is really special. If you said at the start of the season you would run in seven races and win five of them, a Group 2 and four Group 1s, you wouldn’t believe it. So it is very special.”

Wyndspelle, who was bought for $75,000 at the 2015 Select Sale, has earned $483,866 in stakes with five Group 1 placings along with his Group 2 victory in the 2017 Waikato Guineas (2000m).