A determined win in Saturday’s A$250,000 Group Three TAB Adrian Knox Stakes (2000m) at Randwick may have earned Belle Detelle (Zed) an opportunity to follow in the footsteps of a close relative.
Belle Detelle is a three-quarter-sister to the great Verry Elleegant (NZ) (Zed), who won the Gr.1 Australian Oaks (2400m) at Randwick in 2019. That was the second of 11 wins at Group One level for the Kiwi-bred star, who was trained for most of her Australian career by Chris Waller.
Waller is also the trainer of Belle Detelle, who went into the Adrian Knox with a win and three placings to her name from only four career starts. Saturday’s three-year-old fillies’ feature was a big step up for the lightly raced filly, but she rose to the occasion in style for jockey Damian Lane.
Belle Detelle settled in 10th along the rail until the 800m mark, when Lane switched to the outside and began to creep closer to the leaders.
Lane presented Belle Detelle out wide at the top of the straight, and she lengthened stride and surged to the lead with 150m remaining. Hot favourite Polymnia (Dundeel) chased hard down the outside, but Belle Detelle kept finding and maintained a margin of a neck at the finish line.
“It’s very special to get a win like this with a close relative to Verry Elleegant,” Waller said. “We’ve always had a soft spot for her and we knew when we got her to 2000m she would start to excel because of that pedigree. But until you do it on raceday, it’s easier to talk about it than do it, so it was great to see.
“I actually thought she might have been in a little bit of trouble at the 400m, Damian was at work on her, but she was really strong the last 100m.”
Waller will take time to decide whether Belle Detelle will back up into the Oaks next Saturday.
“Look, she’s had a long prep,” he said. “She’s going to be fit enough if we decide to, but at the same time, do we back off and go to Queensland for a Queensland Oaks (Gr.1, 2200m)? I’ll have a talk to Damian and see what he says.”
Belle Detelle has now had five starts for two wins, three placings and A$192,850 in prize-money.
Her performance on Saturday made a big impression on Lane.
“I thought the second horse was going to get me, but she really stuck her neck out when it counted,” he said. “Her previous starts were all in Victoria and I think she just got a bit lost off the bend in her first time under raceday pressure on this leg. But once she got a bit of competition, she was able to knuckle down.
“I think the 2400m of the Oaks wouldn’t be a trouble. She’s just a bit of a keen-going horse, so it’s just whether she settles well enough, and she’s lightly framed too. So I’ll leave that to the best in the business, the Waller stable, to see if she’s appropriate.”
Ardmore Lodge trainer Nick Bishara, who shared in the ownership of Verry Elleegant and guided her through the early stages of her glittering career, is also a co-breeder and part-owner of Belle Detelle. The Adrian Knox winner is a daughter of Verry Elleegant’s sire Zed, while the filly’s dam Black Lace is a Towkay half-sister to the mighty mare.
Belle Detelle became the 27th individual stakes winner for Zed, who stood at Grangewilliam Stud until his death in September at the age of 22.
