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Multiple Group 1 winner to be ridden by Opie Bosson

Regular rider Opie Bosson will be reunited with multiple Group 1 winner Melody Belle (Commands) when she runs in the AD Hollindale Stakes (Gr 2, 1800m) on May 8 and Doomben Cup (Gr 1, 2000m) on May 22. 

The Jamie Richards-trained daughter of Commands (Danehill) etched her name into the New Zealand racing history record books at Ellerslie on March 13 when she landed the Bonecrusher Stakes (Gr 1, 2000m), her fourteenth Group 1 win, to surpass the mighty Sunline (Desert Sun) for the most Group 1 wins in the modern era for a New Zealand-trained horse.

Melody Belle has reportedly come through her sixth place finish in the Tancred Stakes (Gr 1, 2400m) well and will trial at Rosehill on Tuesday, before departing for Queensland. 

“Opie is pretty excited to be aboard,” Fortuna Syndicate Manager John Galvin told SENTrack.

“In the Tancred Stakes when James McDonald rode her, we didn’t have a (trans-Tasman travel) bubble in place, and therefore Opie was unable to travel.

“With that opening up it meant that he came into the frame.

“She is heading towards a trial at Rosehill next Tuesday, so we are looking forward to that. She hasn’t missed a beat with her work. 

“She has had none of those tying up issues that she had prior to the Tancred. She will stay at Randwick after her trial and she will do her final track gallop there on the Tuesday ahead of the Hollindale Stakes.

“She is really happy at Randwick. Ashley (Handley, travelling foreman) is there looking after her, so we don’t see it as an issue.

“We are quite comfortable. That is the best place for her to be, in her box at Randwick, working there and then travelling two or three days before she races at the Gold Coast.

“She will be stabled at the Gold Coast for the two weeks leading up to the Doomben Cup.”

Following her final two runs, Melody Belle will be sold at the Magic Millions Gold Coast National Broodmare Sale and she is catalogued as Lot 510 https://catalogue.magicmillions.com.au/lot/21GWM/510 at the auction which gets underway on May 25.