KEY POINTS:
Veloce Bella has a remarkable constitution and it might just win her Saturday's $700,000 Mercedes Derby.
Despite a busy headlining season, Veloce Bella will gallop at Matamata again tomorrow morning after a sparkling Saturday morning gallop that almost certainly clinched her a place in the Derby.
Trainer Mark Brosnan has been consistently conservative approaching the question of whether to set Veloce Bella for the Derby or Trentham's Oaks two weeks later. Even to the point of saying at Matamata on Saturday that he would wait until tomorrow's gallop before making the Ellerslie feature a certainty. But it would need to be an ordinary effort tomorrow morning to change those plans and that would be a major surprise.
Regular rider Jim Collett was fizzing over the Saturday morning effort.
"It was a really good gallop because she rarely does much when she gallops alone. She's lazy. She felt very good."
The TAB is taking no chances with Veloce Bella and cannot afford to.
One punter last week claimed the agency for a $8000 bet on the filly in the Derby at odds of $11.
She is now almost half that at $6 behind Australian colt Redoute's Dancer on $3 and Magic Cape at $5.
The market: $3 Redoute's Dancer, $5 Magic Cape, $6 Veloce Bella, $11 Stolen Thunder, Currigee, $13 Mettre En Jeu, Santagostino, $16 Young Zeus, $12 Blimey O'Reilly, Keepem, Princess Coup, Resolution.
