COUNTRY MELODY

22nd December 2016

Price Bloodstock stalwart Country Melody won his sixth race at Happy Valley on Thursday night to take himself to a level that trainer John Size never imagined when he started but the five-year-old faces some challenges now to keep going.

The gelding has now won over $6.5 million in stakes in his 24 starts for Size and the handicapper responded by taking his rating to 97, which both Size and Price Bloodstock principal David Price both agree will make life difficult.

From gate one, Country Melody enjoyed a rails run throughout for Brett Prebble, got him self in front with 150m to go and refused to give in as lighter-handicapper horses came at him in the straight to win by a neck.

“I think when he started in Class Four that we felt he was a very decent horse who would get up to Class Two but might meet his match once he did,” said Price after the narrow victory. “But Country Melody has been a pleasant surprise for one of our regular clients, the HK Country Club syndicate, winning three times in Class Two now and he has been a very consistent galloper his whole life. His attitude is fantastic but the top of Class Two under the big weights is a tough place to compete and I think we have to accept that he has done a great job to get here. You would never say that such a hard trier couldn’t win again but anything that happens from here on is a bonus.”