Saturday’s $80,000 Group 3 Hooker Pacific Taranaki Cup (1800m) saw Our Ella Belle put in a big performance to gain a most deserved black-type win.

Trained by Steven ‘Rambo’ Ramsay & Julia Ritchie at Pencarrow Racing, and named after their daughter Ella, Our Ella Belle (Encosta de Lago x Kirin Belle) became the first stakes success for the new training duo.

Our Ella Belle, affectionately known as ‘Kiri’, has shown that she has the talent to win at black-type level but had not managed to secure a stakes win. Before Saturday’s race she put in a stellar performance for a Group 1 placing behind Katie Lee in the Group 1 New Zealand Bloodstock One Thousand Guineas, and had recorded three wins and three thirds from her 11 raceday appearances.

But she went one better in the Group 3 Taranaki Cup on Saturday as she put in a strong performance to out-gun her rivals in the final stages of the race with Lisa Allpress in the saddle.

The mare has been racing well since her unplaced run in the Group 2 Thoroughbred Breeders Stakes, putting together three good performances coming into Saturday’s event. Despite the race being a big step up in class, the daughter of Encosta de Lago won with relative ease, an indication of what she is capable of on the track.

Out of a strong family, Our Ella Belle is a half-sister to the Group 2 winner Winning Belle, the dam of the promising A$1.4 million Redoute’s Choice colt Light Brigade, who has won two of his five starts with two additional placings. She is also a half-sister to the stakes placed mare Lady Maroof, the dam of Group 2 winner Fabiani and stakes winner Star Empire.