Classy Bel Merci runs her Gimcrack rivals ragged

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Bell River Thoroughbreds received an instant and substantial dividend from a bold call not to sell when their royally bred filly Bel Merci (Extreme Choice) took out the Gimcrack Stakes (Gr 3, 1000m) at Randwick.

The 11th foal out of the Group 1-winning sprinter Bel Mer (Bel Esprit), and by the sensational Extreme Choice (Not A Single Doubt), Bel Merci produced a tremendous front-running display from gate two of 14 in Saturday’s Sydney juvenile fillies’ opener and never looked like losing as a well supported $3.50 favourite.

On the line, the John Thompson-trained filly had 1.4 lengths to spare from $7.50 shot O’ Ole (Ole Kirk) – the filly to whom she’d run an eye-catching second at the official two-year-old trials – with $4.80 second elect Memo (Capitalist) third, a further 0.4 lengths away.

The victory brought jubilation and not a little relief for Bell River, the lower Hunter Valley farm that has its fingerprints all over Bel Merci, given they also bred Extreme Choice, who raised his 13th stakes winner – and 74th winner – from just 103 runners through the Gimcrack result.

Bell River had entered the yearling Bel Merci at this year’s Magic Millions Gold Coast sale, but opted to withdraw and race her. The move was made more feasible by the fact her sister fetched $800,000 at the same sale a year earlier, to Peachester Lodge. Now known as Surprise Honey (Extreme Choice) she’s a dual metro placegetter from three starts for Brisbane’s Tony Gollan.

On Saturday, the farm’s decision was emphatically vindicated as Bel Merci shot to the top of Golden Slipper (Gr 1, 1200m) betting with her dominant Gimcrack win.

“We did enter her for sale but given we got such a good return for the full sister we decided we could keep hold of her,” Bell River’s James Ferguson told ANZ Bloodstock News. “Hopefully that now looks like being the right call.”

Thompson is emphatic that it was. He suggested there was plenty more success to come from Bel Merci, who led from the 700-metre mark and clocked a faster closing 600 metres – by 0.12 sec – than the males had one race earlier in King Kirk’s (Ole Kirk) Breeders’ Plate (Gr 3, 1000m).

“She’s a star, don’t worry about that,” the winning trainer said. “She’s not trained up at all, that’s not me. That’s just pure, natural ability there.

“She’s a lovely filly. I’m just so rapt for the breeders, Bell River.

“She’s just a natural. She jumped out here before the official two-year-old trials. She was six lengths in front around the home corner and won by 12 in her jump-out. She’s just a natural two-year-old with ability.”

Winning jockey Chad Schofield was just as enthused.

“She’s very smart. She just helps herself. She’s got such a good brain on her for such a young, inexperienced horse,” he said.

“She was just as she always is, very quiet, very tractable. I was never going to lead but I just wanted to make sure we stepped well, being her first start.

“And after we did that, I planned to let a couple lead me but I just had too much horse. I would have had to disappoint her and break her stride for them just to give me cover, so I just let her slide and kept her happy.”

Bel Merci (2 f Extreme Choice – Bel Mer by Bel Esprit) became the second stakes winner – among nine winners from ten runners – for Bel Mer.

The now 20-year-old mare won four black-type races capped by the SAJC Robert Sangster Stakes (Gr 1, 1200m) of 2009 before becoming a $1.05m broodmare buy for Patinack Farm the following year.

Bel Mer was picked up by Ferguson through a Magic Millions online sale in 2020 for $70,000, having thrown just one minor black-type winner in 2019 MRC Christmas Stakes (Listed, 1200m) victor All Too Royal (All Too Hard).

She now has a yearling colt by Farnan (Not A Single Doubt) heading to the Magic Millions Gold Coast sale in January, but missed on her third mating with Extreme Choice last spring. Keeping the Extreme Choice cross going, Ferguson reports she’s again in-foal from a cover this spring from another son of Not A Single Doubt (Redoute’s Choice), Anders.