The beautifully bred Three Year Old filly Burgundy Belle (Burgundy – Spin ‘N Grin, by Spinning World) had no trouble dispatching her rivals with an impressive debut victory in the $10,000 Nulook Aluminium Maiden 3YO 1100 metres on 6 December at New Plymouth.

Sire Burgundy (Redoute’s Choice) won five stakes races and finished third in the Telegraph (Gr. 1, 1200m), while dam Spin ‘N Grin was also a very smart performer, winning the Eight Carat Classic (Gr. 2, 1600m) and finishing second in the New Zealand Breeders’ Stakes (Gr. 1, 1600m).

Handily placed throughout from barrier two, Burgundy Belle travelled up ominously at the 400m and she romped away under rider Shafiq Rusof to win easing down by five and a half lengths.

On footing downgraded to Slow9, Burgundy Belle was all the rage in betting and returned $1.90 to win.

Click HERE to see Race Video Replay

Burgundy Belle dominant on debut New Plymouth 6th December 2018

“She was very impressive and it’s really good to get a win for John Galvin and the Fortuna team,” said recently appointed racing manager Libby Richards, who forewent her senior banking position to join Te Akau Racing. “She’s a bit of a favourite at home and we hope to see her, maybe, in a stakes race in the next few months.

Fortuna Director John Galvin was on hand along with a big group of his Fortuna Syndicate Members to watch his charge’s impressive win, “We have always had a lot of time for this filly, she is a great looker with impressive physical attributes and on the back of two very good winning trials in November, we had reasonable expectations today, but her performance exceeded those expectations. A special thanks to Jamie Richards for his patient handling of this girl, she has had some issues with her feet, but Jamie has given her plenty of time to get over those and we are now reaping the rewards. And a big thank you to David Ellis for enabling us to acquire this filly. I would also like to mention Shafiq for giving her a perfect ride and I note that Shafiq has ridden Fortuna horses eight times since 2nd May for seven wins and a 2nd – an amazing result.”

Trainer Jamie Richards said: “She’s a progressive sort of filly and it was a nice win. She had trialled well and really gone to another level since we put the blinkers on at home, and she didn’t mind a bit of rain about. I always get a big thrill out of winning a race for John Galvin and his Syndicate Members, especially with a filly that Dave and Karyn bred at home on the farm”.

Burgundy Belle was strapped by Meg Lambert.

Burgundy Belle is raced by the Fortuna Burgundy Belle Syndicate, an ownership Group comprising 53 individuals