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Belle’s Echo made a booming return in her six-year-old season at Trentham on Sunday, putting away a tidy field of sprinters in the Blue Star Christmas Cup (1200m).
The daughter of Echoes Of Heaven had been a model of consistency in her last campaign, but was sent for a spell by trainer Lisa Latta following a couple of uncharacteristic performances through the winter period on unsuitable tracks.
Latta gave her a quiet trial at Foxton in mid-November to prepare for the open sprint contest, where she was underrated in the market ($8) despite an outstanding course record, with three wins and two minor placings from seven attempts at Trentham.
In-form front-runner Idyllic jumped the $2.50 favourite and went straight to her customary leading role, but The Stoney One was immediately to her outer and didn't allow the mare any comfort in the early stages. Meanwhile, Ace Lawson-Carroll was biding his time at the tail aboard Belle's Echo, who still had them all ahead of her at the 300m mark.
The Stoney One looked to have the better of Idyllic and Is That So was hot on their heels, but it was Belle's Echo who came with a scorching turn-of-foot down the outside to put them all away, powering through the line to score by a length to Is That So in a sharp time of 1.07.62.
Latta indicated the performance had come as a surprise, but was a very pleasing result for the stable.
"I didn't really expect that honestly, her coat is nowhere near there and I thought she would improve a lot with the run, but she's won very well," she said.
"It was very satisfying to watch, especially after those two races at the end of her last preparation on really heavy tracks, where she just didn't see the distances out.
"She holds a nomination for the Telegraph (Gr.1, 1200m) but she's not really a weight-for-age horse at the moment, we'd be silly to run in that. We're going to have to go back to the drawing board and try and map something out for her, the biggest thing really is getting some black-type with her at some stage this preparation."
The six-year-old is out of a Woodbury Lad mare in Woodbury Belle, who herself was highly-successful on the track, winning 13 races and placing in the Gr.3 Foxbridge Plate (1200m) for Myles Oldershaw, who co-bred and co-owns Belle's Echo.
Belle's Echo is fashioning an impressive record of her own, with Sunday's victory her fifth from 26 starts and over $150,000 in stakes to her credit.
Latta was in the winner's circle earlier on the card with Keeping Time, a deserved maiden winner in the Pullman Melbourne City Centre 1600 after a confident front-running ride by apprentice jockey Amber Riddell.
"She was very good as well, Amber was going to be caught wide and she used her initiative by going forward and got some really soft sectionals," Latta said.
"She put the pressure on when she turned in and she's fought right to the line. I think once she gets over 2000m, she'll be even better."
A mare co-bred and raced by Little Avondale Stud, Keeping Time is a daughter of Time Test out of talented race-mare Can't Keeper Down, a four-race winner and placegetter in the Gr.1 New Zealand Oaks (2400m), Gr.3 Eulogy Stakes (1600m) and Gr.2 Awapuni Gold Cup (2100m).