€130,000 Pomone (Gr2): Melo Melo on a new level

Saturday, 19th August 2023, Deauville Racecourse (Calvados). – The ten-female field for the €130,000 Prix de Pomone (Gr2)'s extended 1m4f tackled the first bend in a fanned-out formation, but La Mehana (Al Wukair) assumed the lead and the inside rail, flanked by Wonderful Times (Golden Horn), with Alpenblume (Kendargent) and Heartache Tonight (Recorder) following them. The favourite Ottery (Dubawi), a 3-year-old filly, was tracking that group by the rail.

The two lines remained as they were until the home straight, when Francis Graffard's pair, Melo Melo (Gleneagles) and Baiykara (Zarak), moved out to mount their challenge. The former retained her lead to the finish, besting her stablemate by just a head for owner Ama.Zingteam stables. Ottery seemed to falter at the critical moment but rallied towards the end, seizing third place at less than a length. Golden Lyra (Lope de Vega) made up a lot of ground from the rear, finishing a commendable fourth, half a length behind.

This was Melo Melo's tenth race, her fourth this year, and her fourth victory altogether. Last year, at age three, she secured wins in her second and third races and achieved a podium finish in a Listed race over 1m4f at Saint-Cloud. However, she faltered in the Prix Minerve (Gr3), the Deauville equivalent of this Prix de Pomone restricted to three-year-old fillies.

This season, she started with two places and then found success over 14 furlongs in the Prix Gold River (L). She hadn't raced since, marking a return after over a hundred days off.

Melo Melo was bred in the UK by the Pocock family. She was sold as a weanling for £110,000 at Tattersalls and was entered the following year at the Goffs yearling sale, though she wasn't presented. Since then, her dam, the polytrack victor You Look So Good (Excellent Art), has also produced a Wootton Bassett yearling listed for the Tattersalls October sales.