Melody Belle comes out on top in epic Bonecrusher battle

[Chief Stipe]

One race after combining to win the Sistema Stakes with Yourdeel, the unbeatable Jamie Richards-Opie Bosson duo completed a Group One double when Melody Belle upstaged Danzdanzdance at the end of an epic battle in the Bonecrusher New Zealand Stakes.

The weather might not have played its part on Ellerslie’s big day, but none of that mattered as the two mighty mares went to war with 300 metres to run in the weight-for-age feature. Melody Belle might have been the favourite with punters and the racing public, but Danzdanzdance was up for the challenge and gave no quarter.

But even when Melody Belle was narrowly headed she would not be denied, lifting for a final effort that got her home by a neck, taking her Group One tally to six. Five of those elite wins have been this season, beginning with the Tarzino Trophy and Windsor Park Plate at Hasting in the spring and added to in February by the BDC Group Sprint at Te Rapa and Haunui Farm Group One Classic at Otaki.

That sequence placed Melody Belle equal on Group One tallies in a single season with dual Horse of the Year Seachange, who won four Group One races in the 2007-08 season, and today’s victory put her in hallowed company as she lodged a serious claim for her own Horse of the Year title.

A special record belonged to Bosson as well, having equalled Lance O’Sullivan’s record of 62 New Zealand Group Ones when he took the Sistema Stakes on Yourdeel and now he stands alone with 63.

“I tucked her in to get a bit of cover because she was pulling a bit hard early and she relaxed once I did that,” he said of the early stages of Melody Belle’s first middle-distance test.

“I slowly eased myself away from the inside and when I saw Vin De Dance coming off the bit across the top I thought I’d get out underneath him, so it worked out quite well.

“I saw the grey head (of Danzdanzdance) come up beside me and thought we’re in for a fight here. I thought she might have had me, but my little mare, she just doesn’t know when to lie down.”

The Bonecrusher Stakes was added to Melody Belle’s big season partly to gauge her spring prospects, and Richards was left believing that he has every right to consider a tilt at the Cox Plate.

“She will have a nice break and will be back in on the 1st of May. We will try to take the same route as we did last spring but hopefully we might go to Melbourne for a bit of a look around as well.

“It (the Cox Plate) has got to be the target as hopefully the mare of the world (Winx) might be retired by then which would make things easier.”

Danzdanzdance has more immediate Australian target, the Ranvet Stakes at Rosehill in two weeks’ time followed by a possible clash with Winx in that mare’s anticipated fin al race, the Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

“That was massive,” said the grey’s co-trainer Chris Gibbs. “There’s no denying Melody Belle, she’s a wonderful mare, but we have to be happy with our mare ahead of Sydney.”

 

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