MELODY BELLE SET FOR SYDNEY FAREWELL TOUR

On what is seen as the New South Wales chapter of her farewell season Melody Belle will be aimed towards the Group 1 Tancred Stakes over 2400m at Rosehill. 

“She is booked to fly on March 25 and she will be able to work that morning and go straight into the Tancred,” Fortuna Syndications John Galvin said.

“The only reservation would be track conditions. If it was a really heavy track we might not want to race her at 2400m because it is the first time she would have raced at that distance.

“2000m is clearly her pet trip and she is pretty dominant at it from what we have seen.

“She is also nominated for the Queen Elizabeth and the Coolmore Legacy, which are both on April 10 at Randwick.”

Galvin was emotional on the day which saw Melody Belle all but confirm the end of her New Zealand racing career and couldn’t help but think about the accomplishments of the champion mare.

“There were all sort of emotions on Saturday,” Galvin said. “The fact that it was her 14th Group One win and it was a magnificent occasion on Auckland Cup day at Ellerslie.

“Her previous start had led to a failure when she ran at Te Rapa in the Herbie Dyke, through no fault of her own, so there was an extra edge and pressure there.

“My main emotion was relief that once again we saw how good she was.

“It was fantastic to be there with the crowd, the weather, and the big group of owners, many of them were there and there was a lot of emotion.”

Purchased for just $57,500 out of Haunui Farm’s 2016 New Zealand Bloodstock Premier Yearling Sale for Fortuna Syndications, Melody Belle has become the flagbearer for the syndicator, and Galvin said the champ will definitely be missed when she calls time on racing at the end of this campaign.

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