Fortuna Filly MELODY BELLE dominates in winning the Group Two Queensland Sires Produce Stakes

Connections were stunned at Eagle Farm today when their Two Year Old Filly MELODY BELLE (Commands- Meleka Belle) won the A$250,000 Group Two Queensland Sires Produce Stakes by a margin of four lengths. With a run reminiscient of her win in the Karaka Million at Ellerslie in January, she bounded out of the gates to share the lead, rider Opie Bosson then eased her into the trail during the race, moved up three wide on the turn and then sprinted away to an ever increasing margin, much to the delight of her small army of supporters who had traveled from New Zealand to witness the race

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Fortuna Director John Galvin was almost incredulous after the race; ” I knew she had every chance of winning the race, but I didn’t think her win could be that easy,” he said, ” it has been eight weeks since her last run in the Manawatu Sires Produce Stakes and we did have some concerns in the camp because she has only been eating fair since arriving in Australia. I found it hard to fathom her odds in the pre post market when she got as low as $3, but clearly punters were on the mark. It has been a great training performance by Te Akau Racing’s Stephen Autridge and Jamie Richards.”

MELODY BELLE will now contest the Group One JJ Atkins event over 1600 metres at Eagle Farm on 10th January, a race worth A$600,000. Purchased by Te Akau’s David Ellis for $57,500 on behalf of Fortunaat the 2016 Karaka Yearling Sale, MELODY BELLE has now won close to NZ$900,00o for her connections, an ownership group of 32 individuals.