The Great British downpour can stop many things in their tracks, but Middleham Park’s filly Unforgetable Belle wasn’t one of them as she galloped through heavy ground and rain to get off the mark at Leicester this week.
Lewis Edmunds gave her the ideal ride on the day, and having been nicely placed to challenge she picked up really well in the conditions to win decisively, evoking thoughts of her fellow Middleham Park-owned stablemate Lexington Belle’s own improvement on nursery debut last season. It would be a stretch to imagine Unfortgetable Belle reaching the heights of being dual Listed-placed at this stage, but she has improved with every start and showed a fantastic attitude in tough circumstances at Leicester, so perhaps we shouldn’t be ruling it out!
The aforementioned Lexington Belle did her page no harm this weekend as she gained black type for the second time via finishing a good 2nd in a Listed race over in Munich.
She had just gone off the boil earlier in the year, finding combinations of quicker ground, a change in tactics, and better opposition against her, but she has showed again recently that on slow ground over seven furlongs she is capable of being competitive at this level, especially on the continent.
She was given a good, positive ride from three-time German champion apprentice Leon Wolff and we’d be more than happy to utilise his services should we visit Germany again in future.
We were also delighted to provide a first winner for the yard for owner Roberto Favarulo via his now consistent filly Renesmee.
She’d lost her form a little this season having previously a won off a mark of 70 last term for Kevin Philippart de Foy, so returning to something like her best meant she had every chance from marks in the low 60s. She’s struck up a good relationship with one of our apprentices Christian Howarth, and we would be hopeful that she will remain very competitive after a small rise in the weights.
