Huntsville filly looking to end debut year on a high

After competing in harness racing’s Group 1 New South Wales Breeders Challenge Final in October, Western District trainer Jake Davis set his sights on preparing his stable star Studleigh Melise (Huntsville) for the Regional edition of the series.

The filly was far from disgraced when she finished sixth at Menangle behind Major Delight, who set an Australasian record for two-year-old fillies, recording a sizzling 1.50.3 for the mile.

Studleigh Melise bounced back into the winners’ circle at Bathurst on November 30, winning her Regional Series heat with Amanda Turnbull taking the reins.

Owned by Jake’s grandfather Ray and named after his wife Melise, Studleigh Melise impressed connections from day one and was unbeaten in her first four race starts.

“Melise has done a great job for us winning six races in her first season,” said Davis.

“She went into the Breeders Challenge series unbeaten and has run into some really nice fillies along the way and when she did taste defeat was not beaten all that far.

“I am very proud of what she has done to date.”

On Friday (Dec. 9), Studleigh Melise travels to Wagga for the Regional final and after drawing perfectly in gate two with Amanda Turnbull in the gig, looks hard to beat.

“Having Amanda in the gig is a massive plus as horses just run for her,” said Davis.

“Our filly travelled sweetly for Amanda in her heat win at Bathurst.

“She only has to reproduce that effort to go very close to winning again.”

The Wagga meeting includes four Group 3 Breeders Challenge Finals for the western region while Newcastle will host the four eastern region finals later that night.

The best bet throughout the eight finals appears to be the Rickie Alchin-trained Sugar For My Honey in the three-year-old fillies Eastern Final at Newcastle.

The filly was impressive in leading throughout to take out her heat at Penrith and after coming up with gate two tonight, should have sufficient gate speed to lead again and be hard to run down.

All eight of the Breeders Challenge finals are open races with a number of winning chances in each of them.

Dubbo Harness Racing Club will host two heats of the Red Ochre Mares Classic also with the $30,000 Final to be run next Friday night.

For complete race entries for Wagga, click here.

For complete race entries for Newcastle, click here.

by Michael Dumesny, for HRNSW