Patience rewarded with Burgundy Belle

 
Patience rewarded with Burgundy Belle4 May 2019

Talented filly Burgundy Belle made it three wins from five starts when successful in the Crown Prosecutor Cup (1400m) at Trentham on Sunday, providing Te Akau trainer Jamie Richards with his 92nd win of the season.

The daughter of Burgundy had been in the reckoning for last week’s Gr.3 Cambridge Breeders’ Stakes (1200m), but connections took a patient approach with the three-year-old and were rewarded with a three and a-quarter-length success on the heavy10 Trentham surface.

“We thought she was going well enough to be competitive in the Cambridge Breeders’ Stakes, but John Galvin (of Fortuna Syndications) and I had a good talk after she drew badly and he was happy to wait for this race,” Richards said.

“It looked ideal because she can handle heavy ground and we’d been pleased with her work.

“We left the blinkers off when resuming at Te Rapa, and left them off when getting up to 1400 metres today and we’ll look to stretch her a little bit in distance. Although she wanted to go keenly early, I thought she settled nicely when some speed went into the race. She quickened up and won quite well.

“She’s an exciting filly and there certainly looks to be more wins in her.”

Winning rider Johnathan Parkes, who later on the program notched his 100th winner for the season when successful on Shez Ekstra, was also of the opinion that Burgundy Belle has a bright future.

“I actually didn’t want to be as handy as what I was, but we were posted a bit wide early and she wanted to get on with the job, so I let her roll forward and she was simply too good,” Parkes said.

“She’s a progressive filly and will carry on with the job.”

Burgundy Belle is out of the Group Two winner Spin ‘N Grin and is a product that Te Akau principal David Ellis had a strong hand in producing.

“I bought Spin ‘N Grin as a yearling for $65,000 out of the Premier Sale at Karaka, and Mark (Walker) trained her for Tom and Sue Roper,” Ellis said.

“I took her over to breed from and Karyn (Fenton-Ellis) and I actually bred this filly. We sold her at the sales to John Galvin and she looks like another stakes quality filly like Windborne and Darci’s Dream that I bred and John’s Fortuna Syndicate owners have raced.

“This filly is the fifth individual winner from Spin ‘N Grin and we’ve got a really classy Burgundy yearling colt at home from the mare that we’ve kept to race, and she’s back in foal to Darci Brahma.” – NZ Racing Desk