Valuable Stakes Win for Belle du Nord (NZ)

With a classy come-from-behind performance in Saturday’s $100,000 Cal Isuzu Stakes (1600m) at Te Rapa, Karaka graduate Belle du Nord (NZ) (Reliable Man) claimed a valuable Group 2 win to sit alongside her multiple big-race placings.

A $50,000 yearling purchase at Karaka in 2016, Belle du Nord won on debut as a two-year-old and has subsequently placed in the Group 1 Manawatu Sires’ Produce Stakes (1400m), the Group 1 Levin Classic (1600m) and the Group 3 Auraria Stakes (1800m) in Adelaide.

But Saturday was Belle du Nord’s day in the sun. After dropping out to the rear of the classy eight-horse field in the Te Rapa fillies and mares’ feature, jockey Vinnie Colgan angled the four-year-old to the outside to make her run.

Contenders lined up across the track in an exciting finish, but Belle du Nord’s potent finishing burst carried her to a half-length victory over the defending champion Lizzie L’Amour (NZ) (Zabeel).

Raced by the Northern Club Racing Syndicate No. 12 (managed by Sir David Williams KNZM, QC), Belle du Nord has now earned $194,224 in prizemoney – more than 3.8 times her purchase price.

“I’m rapt for the owners,” said Emma-Lee Browne, who trains in partnership with her husband David. “We had to wait a little while to get her second win, but she’s kept stepping up in big races and she’s performed in Australia. This is a great result and she’s a really valuable broodmare now.”

Belle du Nord’s dam Bankside Belle has had two foals to race, both of them black-type performers. Fellow Karaka graduate What Choux Want (NZ) (Jimmy Choux) won twice and placed in the Group 2 Matamata Breeders’ Stakes and Listed Welcome Stakes.

Curraghmore will offer a Jimmy Choux half-brother to Belle du Nord at Karaka 2019, going through the ring as Lot 1019 in Book 2.