Farnan colt North England was the talk of the town after thrashing Group III ATC Gimcrack Stakes winner Bel Merci in a barrier trial at Rosehill last Monday in lightning fast time when she appeared to hang in under pressure down the running and as a result she was quietly sent to Kembla this morning for a take two and it was a very different story.
Sent out in an 800m heat with Zac Lloyd in the saddle for the first time, having been ridden by Chad Schofield in all her previous trials and her one raced day win, Bel Merci was put back on track in a big way.
She flew out of the gates and travelled smoothly to the lead, quickly burning off her rivals before surging away off the turn to win by eight lengths in 46.90 seconds which was the quickest of 10 heats at 800m and her last 600m was a supersonic 32.32 seconds.
That was the filly we saw win the Gimcrack in the spring and the daughter of Extreme Choice will take a power of beating off that trial if she steps out next in one of the fillies Golden Slipper lead up races.
The other juvenile heat was won by Farnan filly Commanding Belle, who did a great job at her only start to finish third to subsequent Inglis Millennium winner Rivellino at Randwick on January 4. This was her first outing since then and the Robert and Luke Price trained filly looked sharp and strong doing everything right for an easy well held win.
Commanding Belle had a full sister offered at Magic Millions this year by Bell River Thoroughbreds and she made $220,000 when bought by Noble Racing/Robert & Luke Price Racing, which is a tip in itself!
Commanding Belle is the first foal of Amazing Belle, a half-sister by O’Reilly to NZ Horse of the Year and 14 time G1 winner Melody Belle as well as stakes-winner Tutukaka, so she lacks for nothing on pedigree!
