Fortuna’s Melody Belle sensational at Te Rapa winning her fourth Group One race

The top quality race mare MELODY BELLE (Commands – Meleka Belle) redeemed herself after her inexplicable last start failure at Trentham, when taking out the Group One BCD Sprint (1400 metres) at Te Rapa 9th February. With a new rider aboard in Troy Harris the 4yo Mare had drawn nicely at Barrier 2, jumped well and was 5th in the running. Under a bit of a ride as they turned for home, she did not look like a winning chance at that point, but Harris nursed her through her flat spot, then went for her with 200 metres to go and, getting  up inside race leaders Bostonian and Androssan, she went to the line victorious with a head margin back to Bostonian

Click HERE to see race result and Video replay

Melody Belle with Troy Harris aboard wins the Group One BCD Group Sprint at Te Rapa 9th February

Fortuna Syndicate Manager John Galvin was shaking his head in disbelief post race, “I made a bit of a fool of myself in the final stages of the race,” he said, ” I put my binoculars down with 300 metres to run and said to those around me that it was not our day, but under a strong ride from Troy, she picked herself up and was victorious – what a race mare she is.”

John went on to say “and what an incredible result for Troy Harris – amazingly, this was his first Group One victory in over 10 years, his last being on the Fortuna 3yo gelding, TELL A TALE, in the 2000 Guineas at Riccarton in November 2008. Troy’s battles with weight and injury are well documented and I am just so happy to see him having success at the top level in the Fortuna colours”

The Te Rapa victory was Melody Belle’s 9th win from 18 starts, her 8th win at Group or Listed level, her 4th Group One Win and her total Stakes winnings were taken to $1,380,000, an amazing result for a Mare who was acquired as a Yearling for just $57,500

Melody Belle was acquired by David Ellis on behalf of Fortuna Syndications at the 2016 NZ Bloodstock Karaka Premier sale for $57,500 and was bred by Marie Leicester.

She is raced by the Fortuna Melody Belle Syndicate, a grouping of 34 individuals