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Mekong Melody hits the right note in Long Island
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| Mekong Melody fired through
on the inside to take the Long Island
(Ross Woodson/Horsephotos.com) |
David Egan's MEKONG MELODY (Ire) (Cape Cross [Ire]) easily took Saturday's
$150,000
Long
Island H. (G3) at Aqueduct while 3-5 favorite Changing Skies (Ire) (Sadler's
Wells), the subject of massive investment in the show pool, was nosed out for
third thus triggering unusually large show payouts. Under a ground-saving ride
by Alex Solis, Mekong Melody responded well to urging when an opening along the
rail appeared in the stretch and drew off convincingly to win the 1 1/2-mile,
firm-turf feature by 3 3/4 lengths in a time of 2:30 3/5.
Tarrip (Green Desert) led for the opening 10 furlongs, setting pokey
fractions of :25 1/4, :51 3/5, 1:17, 1:42 2/5 and 2:07. Me Love (Giant's
Causeway), who tracked in second for nearly a mile, yielded that position to
Changing Skies going down the backside for the second time. The favorite, who
had been forced to move three-wide going into the second of three turns, took a
run at Tarrip in the stretch but ultimately couldn't get past that one.
Meanwhile, Mekong Melody advanced from third to claim the lead and easily held
off the late rally of Daveron (Ger) (Black Sam Bellamy), who nipped Tarrip by a
half-length with Changing Skies a nose behind in fourth.
Mekong Melody, the 7-2 third choice conditioned by Roger Attfield, paid
$9.40, $5 and $17.80. Daveron, the 7-2 second choice, returned $5.20 and $15.20,
while 24-1 shot Tarrip paid $49.20. Me Love and Sweet and Flawless (Unbridled's
Song) came in behind Changing Skies after Clarinet (Giant's Causeway) was
scratched. The exacta returned $42.20 and the 2-7-1-3 trifecta was worth
$306.50.
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Stakes-placed in England at three, Mekong Melody was victorious in her first
two outings of 2009 in North America, at Woodbine, but finished far back in her
stakes debut at the same track. However, she rebounded to take the Flaming Page
S. in her seasonal finale. She returned to the races this past July, nearly 10
months since her previous start, to register a minor 5-1 upset of the Dance
Smartly S. (Can-G2). The trailer in the Ballston Spa H. (G2) next out, she then
defended her title in the Flaming Page but once again trailed the field in the
October 16 E.P. Taylor S. (Can-G1) in her start prior to the Long Island.
Produced by the winning Nini Princesse (Niniski), Mekong Melody counts as
half-siblings the multiple stakes winner and Group 3-placed Miss Honorine
(Highest Honor [Fr]), stakes-winning hurdler Blue Canyon (Bering [GB]), and
Austrian stakes hero Cool Marble (Oasis Dream [Ire]). Nini Princesse herself is
a full sister to Grade 1 winner Louis Cryphre (Ire) and a half-sister to Group 2
winner Psychobabble (Ire) (Caerleon) and multiple Japanese stakes winner Star
King Man (Kingmambo).
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