Maple Leaf Mel kept her record perfect on May 19 with a win in her graded stakes debut, taking the Grade 3 Miss Preakness at Pimlico decisively under jockey Joel Rosario. Trained by Jeremiah Englehart, the 3-year-old had to scrap for the early lead with favored rival Key of Life out of the gate, but took over a quarter-mile in and didn't look back, easily fighting off closing efforts from Afternoon Tea and Topsy to win by 1 1/2 lengths, with minimum urging from Rosario in the stretch.
The race is the fourth run and the fourth win for Maple Leaf Mel, who took a break after her 2-year-old campaign and came back to win the East View Stakes at Aqueduct in late March.
Maple Leaf Mel is named for Englehart assistant Melanie Giddings, who hails from Canada. Owner Bill Parcells and Englehart wanted to pay tribute to Giddings, who is a endocervical and ovarian cancer survivor. Giddings has been with the gray filly for most every day of her career so far, and the pair share a special bond.
Topsy finished second, followed by L Street Lady and Afternoon Tea. The final time for the six furlongs was 1:09.56.
Maple Leaf Mel went off at 8-5 and paid $5.40, $3.60, and $3.20. See the full chart here.
August Dawn Farm owns the New York-bred daughter of Cross Traffic, who was bred by Joe Fafone. She is out of City Place mare City Gift.
Maple Leaf Mel was an $18,000 yearling purchase at Keeneland September by Paul Neatherlin from the consignment of Eaton Sales. She was later pinhooked into the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale by consignor Robert Brewer, where August Dawn gave $150,000 for her.
$150,000 Miss Preakness (G3) Quotes
Winning Trainer Jeremiah Englehart (Maple Leaf Mel): “I loved the way she was in the paddock. She had really good energy. (Assistant trainer) Melanie (Giddings,) has been telling me she has been doing very well. She's one of those fillies that loves doing what she does. It showed today.
“Joel (Rosario) was thinking, 'Do you want to go to the lead?' I said, 'Well, we've got the outside post. At least break and see where everyone is going.' We knew the 2 had the speed. I was content with just sitting off her. When Joel got the lead, I got thinking, 'Coach (owner Bill Parcells) told me that he wanted to sit. In the locker room I was going to get beat up pretty good if she took the lead and then faded late. It worked out great.
“You can do whatever you want with her.”
“The way she does it, I always figured she would run with whoever we put her against just because when you ask her to run, she does it. I thought she would handle it but this was going to be her real, true test to show she would handle it. She passed.”
Melanie Giddings, assistant trainer to Jeremiah Englehart and cancer survivor): “This is emotional. There is a lot of pressure when you have Bill Parcells as the owner. He will say, 'Is she ready? Is she ready?' I keep telling him, 'Yes,' and you just hope it all works out.
“This is special not just for me but there are a lot of other people as well. I can't tell you how many people have come up to me and they say, 'Oh my God, I feel you.' They have had this or that happen to them. It's nice. They have a horse to look up to, in a sense, when she is winning.
“I had endocervical and ovarian cancer, which was diagnosed in 2020. Bill named the horse for me, partly because of that (She is also from Canada) and we had built up a friendship. He is at the barn every day (in Saratoga during the summer). He loves the sport. It's nice for him to get this win. He might have been a little nervous today because I did not hear from him. I think everyone can kind of feel a little relief. She is a New York-bred and the other filly (Key of Life) won in Lexington, This is a nice horse. This makes me feel proud because I think so highly of her.”
Winning Jockey Joel Rosario (Maple Leaf Mel): “She has a lot of speed. Her break was not really super-fast, but she has so much speed. After she got the lead, she looked around a little bit. And I just let her do her thing, and hopefully we had something left turning for home.”
Trainer Steve Asmussen assistant Darren Fleming (Topsy, 2nd): “I thought she ran huge. She finished up really well. I'd have to watch the replay. I don't know how she got that far back.”
Jockey Tyler Gaffalione (Topsy, 2nd): “My filly broke alertly, put herself in a good spot and she was really finishing down the lane. The track's a little tight, but it's very fair out there. It seems like the best horses are getting it done.”
Trainer Brittany Russell (L Street Lady, 3rd): “You know, we were really trying to get a piece of this, and L Street Lady ran a really big race. She came from off it and for her to run up and get third was great. They were really rolling. She is a nice filly. I am surprised she did not get a little more respect (45-1 odds). I am delighted, very happy with her.”
Brad Cox, trainer beaten-favorite Key of Life: “She got outrun, it looked like to me. The winner was very good; and we didn't run our best race but were no match for the top finishers.”
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