Champion racemare Melody Belle, a relative of Cheveley Stud’s promising young sire Wylie Hall, made yet more racing history when victorious in the Gr1 Livamol Classic at Hastings on Saturday.
The reigning New Zealand Horse Of The Year became the first horse to complete Hawke’s Bay’s weight-for-age Triple Crown during the Bostock New Zealand Spring Carnival – the Tarzino Trophy (1400m), Windsor Park Plate (1600m) and Livamol Classic. Eight horses had previously won two of the three.
Melody Belle (NZ) wins her ninth Gr1 race and completes the Hawkes Bay Triple Crown (Pic -Trish Dunell)
Melody Belle also took her number of Gr1 wins to nine with Saturday’s success-a new record number of Group One victories in New Zealand.
Rider Opie Bosson settled her in midfield beside the rail as Mongolian Marshal and Peso went to the front in the early stages. Bosson moved Melody Belle out into clear air with more than 1200 metres to run, and she cruised forward to slide into second place at the top of the home straight.
It was plain sailing from there as Melody Belle swept past a brave Peso, opening up to win by three and a half lengths in front of a delighted Hastings crowd.
“She’s such a darling,” Bosson said. “We got bumped around a little bit in the first half of the race, but I ended up getting her out of trouble and then she just cruised into it. I just love her. To win these three Group One races at 1400, 1600 and 2040 metres, it takes an amazing horse.”
The champion, New Zealand’s Champion Two-Year-Old of 2016-2017 and Champion Sprinter-Miler last season, could now possibly be aimed at the G1 Cox Plate.
Saturday’s win took Melody Belle’s total number of wins to 14, and she has now banked in excess of NZ$1.8 million in stakes (plus a further AUS $173 100).
A daughter of Commands (by Danehill), Melody Belle is directly descended in female line from Belle Time –who also rates as the fourth dam of Wylie Hall.
The latter, a son of Danehill’s multiple champion sire Redoute’s Choice, was a top-class galloper whose six career wins included scores in both the G1 SA Derby and G1 President’s Champions Challenge.
The sire of smart first crop performers Twilight Moon, De La Cruz, Flatware, and Wylie’s Flame, Wylie Hall has two fillies on offer at the 2019 Emperors Palace Ready To Run Sale, and two colts on offer at the 2019 CTS Ready To Run Sale.akes
