Fortuna’s 3yo Filly BURGUNDY BELLE wins at Trentham – now Three wins from Five starts for this Classy Filly
Making it three wins from five starts, Burgundy Belle(3 f Burgundy – Spin ‘N Grin) provided Fortuna’s NZ trainer Jamie Richards of Te Akau Racing Stables with his 92nd win this season when bolting in on Sunday at Trentham.
In the $25,000 Crown Prosecutor Cup, for three-year-olds over 1400 metres, handling the heavy footing was always going to be paramount and having won her debut on Slow9 by 5.5 lengths gave punters a significant leg-up on her prospects. Burgundy Belle duly delivered, given a lovely run in the race by Jonathan Parkes, sitting just off the leader, Satu Lagi, and after turning for home, she gathered him in very quickly and went to the line a clear winner by 3.3 lengths.
Click HERE to see race result and Video replay
Rider Johnathan Parkes said: “I actually didn’t want to be as handy as what I was, but we were posted a bit wide early and she wanted to get on with the job, so I let her roll forward and she was simply too good. She’s a progressive filly and will carry on with the job.”
BURGUNDY BELLE strides to a 3 length Victory – Trentham 5th May 2019
Impressive winning on debut and again in the next grade at her following start, both in December, before spelling after a notable fifth in the Mongolian Khan Trophy (Gr. 3, 1200m) on Karaka Million Night (26 Jan.) at Ellerslie, Burgundy Belle had resumed with a very good third in the 3YO 1200 metres on 14 April at Te Rapa.
“She was going to the Cambridge Breeders’ Stakes (a week earlier), but we had a wide draw and some jockey troubles so we decided to pull out of that and have a go at this race,” said Fortuna Syndications Director John Galvin. “I was out walking the track before the race and although it’s testing, it’s not super wet, but she handles any tracks, I think, so we’re very pleased with just how this very handsome filly is progressing.”
Jamie Richards said: “We thought she was going well enough to be competitive in the Cambridge Breeders’ Stakes, but John (Galvin) and I had a good talk and he was happy to wait for this race. It looked ideal because she can handle heavy ground and we’d been pleased with her work. We left the blinkers off when resuming at Te Rapa, and left them off when getting up to 1400 metres today and we’ll look to stretch her a little bit in distance. Although she wanted to go keenly early, I thought she settled nicely when some speed went into the race. She quickened up and won quite well. She’s an exciting filly and there certainly looks to be more wins in her.”
Burgundy Belle returned $2.50 & $1.20 on the NZ TAB tote, running the 1400 metres in 1:26.4 on footing upgraded to Heavy10 after the (first) race.
A beautifully bred filly, her 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).
Burgundy Belle was acquired by John Galvin as a yearling in a private sale for $100,000 from her Breeders David Ellis and Karyn Fenton Ellis and is the latest in a number of successful acquisitions made by John from David and Karyn. “It’s been quite amazing really,” says John, “over the years Fortuna has successfully raced Darci’s Dream, Windborne, Jacks Secret (Singapore), Major Tom (Singapore), Colorado Prince and now, Burgundy Belle – all horses bred by David and Karyn and acquired by Fortuna.”
Burgundy Belle is raced by the Fortuna Burgundy Belle Syndicate, an ownership Group of 53 Individuals, several of whom were on track at Trentham
Burgundy Belle was strapped by Ashley Handley.