Australasian racing may have unearthed another superstar in the same race as champion Kiwi mare Melody Belle ended her career at Doomben yesterday.
Melody Belle was fifth coming from last in the A$700,000 Doomben Cup, won in stunning style by Zaaki. The former UK galloper demolished opposition, including this season'sCox Plate and All-Star Mile winners, in the hands of expat jockey James McDonald.
"This is a pretty special horse," said McDonald of the now Sydney-trained galloper.
Zaaki's win was so dominant, shades of the former free-running freak Might And Power, that he is now the $5 favourite to win October's Cox Plate.
While Zaaki has burst on to the biggest stage during this Queensland carnival, Melody Belle left that stage with her head held high after initially being run off her feet in the 2000m Group 1.
Zaaki won the Doomben Cup. Photo / Grant Peters, Trackside Photography
She dropped back to last from her wide barrier draw, and with the leaders never relenting, she looked to be getting run off her hooves at the 800m before grinding her way into fifth.
"They just went faster and faster," said jockey Opie Bosson. "She was flat at the 800m but she kept coming."
Trainer Jamie Richards had gone into the race realistic about what to expect in Melody Belle's swansong before she is sold at public auction on the Gold Coast on Tuesday, with her next move almost certainly a broodmare career.
"This is a very, very hard level to compete at. That was like a mini Cox Plate field," said Richards.
"So for her to finish fifth after having to go back to last from the draw is something we can all be proud of.
"But that is typical of her, she has tried so hard all the way through her career. You don't win 14 Group 1 races unless you put in every start."
Richards rates Melody Belle's sole Group 1 win in Australia in the Empire Rose at Flemington as the greatest of her wins.
"And the Karaka Million is very special, that is the race when she first arrived. But one of her greatest performances wasn't a win. I think her second in the McKinnon at Flemington was pretty special."
Melody Belle finishes her career with 19 wins and more than $4.2 million in stakes and now attention turns to Tuesday, when she will be sold at auction because she is owned by a syndicate, which would making breeding from her too difficult under that ownership structure.
She has been stabled at the Gold Coast racetrack which is next door to the sales complex, so tomorrow, handler Ashley Handley will walk her across to the complex stable block where prospective buyers can inspect her for the next two days.
Already breeding giants such as Coolmore have had their experts inspect the Matamata mare and most predictions from bloodstock experts have her sales price somewhere between $2m and $3.2m.
