Melchbourne (horse)
Melchbourne (foaled 1971) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. Despite never winning a Group race, she was the top-rated filly of her generation in Britain in 1973, when she won six of her eight races, many of them by wide margins. She won once from three starts in the following year. Background Melchbourne was a "lengthy, shapely" bay mare with a narrow white blae bred in Suffolk by her owner Pearl Lawson Johnston. She was sired by Forlorn River, a high-class sprinter who won the July Cup, Nunthorpe Stakes and Challenge Stakes in 1967. Melchbourne's dam, False Evidence, was of no use as a racehorse, failing to win in fifteen starts on the flat and four over hurdles but was a successful broodmare, going on to produce Cry of Truth. Miss Lawson Johnston, a Master of Foxhounds and Justice of the peace, sent her filly into training with Bruce Hobbs at the Palace House stable in Newmarket, Suffolk. Racing career 1973: two-year-old season On her racecourse debut, Melchbourne made little impression, finishing unplaced in a maiden race at Newmarket Racecourse but then won four consecutive races against modest opposition. She recorded her first victory with a three length win