The final group race of the two-day Scone Cup carnival was a case of needing to see it, to believe it as Scott Singleton’s locally trained mare Melody Again came from last to win the $250,000 Group 3 Arrowfield Dark Jewel Classic (1400m).
With her most recent win coming in September last year, the 5yo daughter of Gooree Park Stud’s Your Song was unwanted in the betting, starting at odds of 40/1.
From barrier 2, the Christian Reith ridden mare was one of the last to leave the barriers and as a result settled on the rail in last position while the Bjorn Baker trained Queues Likely (GB) (Massaat), also an outsider, ensured there was a solid tempo upfront.
As the field turned into the home straight, race favourite Written In Code (I Am Invincible) was slowly extracting herself from behind a wall of horses and once clear, many would have thought the race all over as she sprinted to the lead.
After coming along the rails and pulling off the heels of the eventual third placed Dark Glitter (Spieth), Reith charged between the two leaders aboard Melody Again where he pulled away to win by the best part of a half-length margin, recording the first black type success for the mare.
In what was surely a huge thrill for Singleton, the local trainer had some confidence based on how well she looked in the yard.
“That's like our Melbourne Cup, do you know what I mean,” enthused Singleton.
“I thought when she walked in the yard, I had a look at her and thought if how she’s prepared speaks for anything, she just looked the winner in the yard, I thought.”
“Christian rode my first winner for me 20 years ago and Max and Sally (owners) are the first owners I ever had 20 years ago. So, yeah, it's pretty special in so many facets.”
“It's just a matter of getting everything right on that day and today was that day. But I just have to thank my team. She's not easy and we've looked after her hoping this would come one day.
“We just had the belief that she was good enough to do that, particularly if we could do it at home. We didn't have to travel down there to meet them.
Bred by Dr Max Kowalczuk, Melody Again is the sole runner out of the placed Authorized mare Jay ‘N’ Ava, whose current 2yo is the filly Avay (Tassort), also in the Singleton yard.
From the family of the ill-fatted Shazee Lee (Ready’s Image), a winner of the Group 3 Hawkesbury Guineas who was also bred by Kowalczuk and trained by Singleton, Jay ‘N’ Ava was covered last season by Your Song with the resultant foal a full relation to today’s Group 3 winner.
Melody Again becomes the eighth stakes winner for Your Song, with the Group 1-winning son of Fastnet Rock set to stand at Gooree Park Stud at a fee of $5,500 (inc. GST) this spring.
