Mare the belle of the Te Rapa ball

3 min read

Written by Paul Vettise

A changing of the guard at Te Rapa saw the baton passed to the husband and wife training team of David and Emma-Lee Browne after Belle Du Nord (NZ) (Reliable Man {GB}) sailed home to claim the G2 Cal Isuzu S.

The race has been dominated in recent years by the Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman stable, which has won the event five times since 2011, but its three-pronged attack came up short in Saturday’s edition.

The best of the trio was the defending champion Lizzie L’Amour (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}), who finished second.

Belle Du Nord finished runner-up in the G1 Manawatu Sires’ Produce S. at two and in her Classic year was second in the G1 Levin Classic. In a following Australian campaign she ran third in the G3 Auraria S.

“It’s really satisfying and it’s been a long time between wins.” - Emma-Lee Browne.

“It’s really satisfying and it’s been a long time between wins,” Emma-Lee Browne said.

“To get a Group 2 is brilliant and she really needs it firm. I’ve been watching the weather all week and she’s finally got a track to suit her.

“She keeps stepping up and I’m just so pleased for the owners, she’s a pretty valuable broodmare now.”

Not that retirement is imminent and Belle Du Nord will be in action at the upcoming Ellerslie carnival.

“The plan is to race her over Christmas and most probably we’ll be looking at the Rich Hill Mile.” – Emma-Lee Browne.

“The plan is to race her over Christmas and most probably we’ll be looking at the Rich Hill Mile,” Browne said.

Belle Du Nord settled toward the tail of the field, was widest into the straight and when rider Vinnie Colgan asked her the supreme effort she responded and powered home.

The victory ended a lengthy drought for connections as her only previous win had come in the autumn of 2017 at Trentham where she beat the subsequent G1 Thousand Guineas winner Aloisia (Azamour {IRE}).

While Baker and Forsman had to settle for second, major black-type rewards were to follow for the Cambridge duo with Mongolian Marshal (NZ) (High Chaparral {IRE}) winning the G3 Skycity Hamilton Waikato Cup and Queen Of Diamonds (NZ) (Savabeel) coasting away with the G3 Lawnmaster Eulogy S. at Awapuni.

Mongolian Marshal had finished runner-up behind Igraine (GER) (Galileo {IRE}) in the G3 Counties Cup at his previous appearance and comfortably turned the tables on the imported mare at Te Rapa.

“The track might have tripped him up a bit there, but Igraine was far too good.” - Murray Baker.

“The track might have tripped him up a bit there, but Igraine was far too good,” Baker said.

“To be honest, I’ve been wondering if he was just a 2000 metre horse, but he did run eighth in the Australian Derby and came home from well back.

“He’s a quality horse and I’m not sure what we’ll do next. We’ll get home and have a think about that.

Plans have also yet to be confirmed for Queen Of Diamonds (NZ) (Savabeel) in the wake of her runaway Eulogy victory.

The filly was making just her third appearance and she bridged the gap from a previous maiden success to black-type company with consummate ease.