Richard Wins Across Tasman With Melody Belle, Probabeel

Kiwi trainer Jamie Richards continued his meteoric rise through the training ranks by preparing group 1 winners on both sides of the Tasman Oct. 3 in Melody Belle and Probabeel.

Melody Belle returned to form in conjunction with a return to New Zealand, leading home a Richards one-two in the Windsor Park Plate (G1) at Hastings.

Entering off two below-par runs in Sydney to begin her preparation, Melody Belle was a late entry for the Windsor Park Plate, a race she won last year. With a number of her Fortuna Syndications owners trackside, led by manager John Galvin, the champion mare showed all of her tenacity and her brilliance that had taken her to 10 group 1 wins before Saturday.

Stablemate and favorite Avantage loomed large on the outside, while Tarzino Trophy (G1) victor Callsign Mav fought hard to the inside. The trio went toe to toe to the line down the Hastings straight, with Melody Belle sticking her head out in the middle to take the middle leg of the Hawke's Bay Triple Crown.

"She's a wonderful mare and it's a credit to everyone who has looked after her all the way through, right from the time that Dave (Ellis) bought her and the team that has looked after her here and in Sydney," Richards said.

"I honestly don't believe that she was going that bad in Sydney but she was running into proper horses without a lot of luck. Now she's back in New Zealand and she's loving it."

Galvin added: "It was just a fantastic race to watch and I'm pretty sure, from what I've seen from the replay, that Avantage did head us for a stride or two. But Melody Belle, being the fighter that she is, she just fought back and got the bob in."

With her 11th group 1 win Saturday—10 in New Zealand and one in Australia—Melody Belle matched one of the greats of the New Zealand turf in Rough Habit, with Galvin hoping that she might be able to equal New Zealand's most prolific top-level winner, 13-time group 1 heroine Sunline.

"We're closing in, we are second equal with Rough Habit and starting to close in on Sunline," he said. "It's a fantastic record and we are just so proud of her."

Melody Belle is likely to face Avantage again in the final leg of the Hawke's Bay Triple Crown, the Livamol Classic (G1) on Oct. 17, a race she also won last year.

Another 2,040-meter race, the Ladbrokes Cox Plate (G1), may be on the radar for Probabeel after she scored a second career group 1 win in the time-honored TAB Epsom Handicap (G1) at Randwick Saturday.

Sent out as the AU$6.50 third favorite, Probabeel was sent forward from gate 15 by Kerrin McEvoy and ended up trapped deep with only partial cover ahead of midfield.

Under her light weight of 52.5 kilograms, McEvoy was cool and calm on the turn, sending Probabeel towards the leaders topping the rise.

In a revival of her primary rivalry from her 3-year-old days, Funstar joined in with Probabeel at the 250 meters. However, Probabeel always looked to be travelling better than Funstar and so it proved as she raced a length clear of her old sparring partner; another former Kiwi Riodini finished a further head away in third.

It was the fifth time in just over a year that the pair had filled the quinella in stakes races, with Funstar leading home Probabeel in the Darley Tea Rose Stakes (G2), the Darley Flight Stakes (G1), and the Chandon Phar Lap Stakes (G2) and Probabeel having the upper hand in the Heineken 3 Surround Stakes (G1) and the Epsom.

Owned by Cambridge Stud principals Brendan and Jo Lindsay, Probabeel took her record to eight wins from 18 starts and earnings of AU$2,366,506.

"She's a champion, this horse," Brendan Lindsay said. "When you look at the statistics and you see that only three mares in the last 40 years have won and you see her drawn in the car park and you think it's all against her and then she does that. She's a true champion."

Lindsay favors a tilt at the Cox Plate instead of staying in Sydney for the Golden Eagle and will discuss her options with Richards, who was forced to watch the race on his phone as he trekked home from Hastings.

"We'll give her a couple of days to see how she comes through, we don't have to make any decisions today," Richards said. "There are a couple of options, either the Cox Plate or the Golden Eagle, and we'll get a bit of feedback from Kerrin as to what he thinks is her best distance. We'll make an informed decision next week when we have all the information."

Richards took his group 1 haul to 33 at the age of 31, with Brendan Lindsay offering up plenty of plaudits for the young master.

"Hasn't he had a good day?" Lindsay mused. "I don't know how this guy does it. He has his team in Australia, he's training this horse (Probabeel) on Zoom, he's a pretty bloody good trainer, that's for sure."

Richards, though, deflected the praise to his team, particularly with COVID-19 preventing the trainer from being able to cross the Tasman.

"The team has done such a wonderful job to present this mare so well," he said. "It's a true credit to them, they are the true champions that have done such a wonderful job. It's such a thrill for all of us, she's a real New Zealand product—bred by Waikato Stud, bought by David Ellis, owned by Cambridge Stud—so it's really been a wonderful day."

Waller Dominates Turnbull 

For a Sydney-based trainer—even with a satellite operation in Melbourne—Chris Waller has done an extraordinary job of making the TAB Turnbull Stakes (G1) his own in recent years, a trait he continued when he prepared the trifecta in the Flemington feature Saturday. 

Superstar mare Verry Elleegant took out her fifth group 1, and her first in Melbourne, as AU$5 favorite in the Turnbull Stakes. She prevailed in a blanket finish over stablemates Toffee Tongue, a 70-1 outsider, and Finche to give Waller his fifth Turnbull, all coming since 2015.

Verry Elleegant joined Preferment, Winx twice, and Kings Will Dream as a Waller-trained Turnbull winner, adding the feature to her wins in the Vinery Stud Stakes (G1), Heineken 3 Australian Oaks (G1), Kia Tancred Stakes (G1), and Winx Stakes (G1).

"It was a very good result for the stable," Waller said from Randwick. 

"Verry Ellegant is as tough as they come. Things didn't go her way in the run yet she fought it out to the last meter. Toffee Tongue was brilliant. That was her first run in that sort of company and she was as brave as anything.

"Finche was great as he had to do a lot of work in the run."

The Waller trio will progress to the Stella Artois Caulfield Cup (G1), with Verry Elleegant guaranteed a berth, Finche likely to gain a run after withdrawals, and Toffee Tongue needing some luck to make the final field of 18. 

However, Toffee Tongue will meet Verry Elleegant two kilograms better at the weights should she make the field, while she will meet Finche 2 1/2 kilograms better.

Dalasan was game in fourth, finishing only a neck behind the winner, and remains in the entries for both the Caulfield Cup and the Cox Plate, while Master of Wine and Warning also produced good Cups trials.