Into Mischief Filly Rolls Down Lane A Spa Maiden Winner

3rd-Saratoga, $88,000, (S), Msw, 8-9, 2yo, f, 5 1/2f (off turf), 1:06.12, ft, 4 3/4 lengths.
TRICKY TEMPER (f, 2, Into Mischief–Winter Book {MSW, $148,299}, by Any Given Saturday) went off as the 6-5 favorite in this off-the-turf debut that saw half of the field scratch following heavy rains earlier in the week. The bay rated to the outside up the backstretch, three off the lead. Tricky Temper was still in chase mode around the far turn, but at the top of the lane, she flashed her speed down the center of the track to win by 4 3/4 lengths over My Kinda Mischief (Maximus Mischief). The winner's dam, who is a half-sister to GSW Motor City (Street Sense), produced a yearling filly by Gift Box and she visited Yaupon for next year. Sales History: $97,000 RNA Ylg '22 FTKOCT; $230,000 2yo '23 OBSAPR. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $48,400. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
O-Mark H. Stanley; B-Sequel Thoroughbreds, LLC & Lakland Farm (NY); T-Jeremiah C. Englehart.

The post Into Mischief Filly Rolls Down Lane A Spa Maiden Winner appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Mel Giddings Enjoys First Saratoga Summer With Her Own Stable

Melanie Giddings had originally planned on a no-stress summer when she decided to move her fledgling stable from its home base at Palm Meadows up to New York for the Saratoga meet.

“I had said, 'Why don't we just go up to Saratoga and enjoy ourselves?'” Giddings recalled with her signature easy smile. “No pressure, no nothing. Just take the horses there and see what we can do.”

Those expectations went out the window pretty quickly when a filly named Maple Leaf Mel (Cross Traffic) landed in her barn. The undefeated sophomore won her first race with Giddings listed as trainer when she put in a dominant gate-to-wire performance in the GIII Victory Ride S. on July 8 and now, Giddings and her stable star are preparing for what will be the biggest race of both their careers in the Aug. 5 GI Test S.

Last spring, former Super Bowl-winning head coach Bill Parcells purchased Maple Leaf Mel for his August Dawn Farm at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale. He decided to name the daughter of Cross Traffic after Canadian-born Giddings, who was then the assistant to his regular trainer Jeremiah Englehart.

Giddings has been with Maple Leaf Mel since the grey filly first came to the racetrack, so when Giddings went out on her own at the beginning of this year, her namesake soon followed. It was a decision by Parcells and Englehart that Giddings does not take lightly.

“It would have been weird for me to not have her in my barn, but to have her in my name is pretty incredible,” she explained. “It's  a big responsibility to try to live up to a filly who is undefeated and keep it that way. I'm so grateful for Coach to give me the chance and for Jeremiah to be so supportive of my training career and let me have this filly in my name.”

Mel Giddings and Jeremiah Englehart celebrate Maple Leaf Mel's first graded stakes win in the GIII Miss Preakness S. | Horsephotos

The pressure was on in the Victory Ride when Giddings was first listed as Maple Leaf Mel's trainer, especially when the entries included the likes of MGSW Red Carpet Ready (Oscar Performance) and Grade II-placed Interpolate (Into Mischief). Giddings called an old friend and mentor for a confidence boost before the race.

“I spoke with Jeremiah when the past performances came out and I said, 'Well I drew the toughest field to have her in my name for the first time.' He told me not to worry and he was right. She doesn't care who it is and horses don't read the form. She went out there like every other time and put on a show.”

Now five-for-five with four stakes wins to her credit, Maple Leaf Mel is emerging as one of the top fillies of her division, but her trainer said that the speedy grey is like a kid on the playground when she steps into the starting gate.

“I think for her, being a good racehorse is just the fact that she loves her job,” said Giddings. “She knows what day it is when it's time to run and she's a different horse. She can't wait to run. I don't even know if she really knows what she's doing. She just goes out there and she thinks it's a good time.”

Maple Leaf Mel put in her most recent work in preparation for the Test on July 21, going four furlongs in :49.22.

“She's feeling frisky,” reported Giddings. “I'll try to keep her that way and keep her as fresh as I can going in. This will obviously be the biggest race of her life.”

Giddings has been around her fair share of talented racehorses in her 26 years in the industry. Over the years she has worked for the likes of Al Stall Jr., Mark Casse, Kevin Attard, Steve Asmussen and Roger Attfield. The thought of hanging out her own shingle never really crossed her mind until a life-threatening illness put things in a new perspective.

In 2020, Giddings was diagnosed with Stage 4B endocervical and ovarian cancer. After surgery to remove two grapefruit-sized tumors, several rounds of chemotherapy, and a long recovery, Giddings returned to the racetrack.

Maple Leaf Mel goes five-for-five in the GIII Victory Ride S. | Sarah Andrew

“I thought I would see how I could make it through the first year, whether I could even make it still doing what I love doing,” recalled Giddings. “The first year was really tough. I mean, that first year if you had said that I was going to train, I'd have told you that you're nuts because I was struggling a lot.”

But by last year, Giddings was back to overseeing around 40 horses in the Englehart barn and soon after, she discovered the dream she never really knew she had.

“I had never thought of training,” said Giddings. “I just always loved the racetrack. I've been here for 26 years and I just love getting horses ready and I take pride in them doing well and succeeding. When I got sick, I wasn't sure if I would ever be able to have another job in my life, let alone make it. So when I did I thought, 'Why not do it for myself?' No stress, no goals. Just do it and see what happens.”

Giddings said she sometimes can't believe how much time has passed since those long, excruciating months when she was so far removed from life on her beloved racetrack.

“Sometimes I look at my hair and I go, 'Oh, it's been that long,'” she said, grabbing her ponytail of now shoulder-length hair.

So just over three years after she first received the cancer diagnosis, Giddings is soaking in every moment with a filly named in her honor and a stable of promising 2-year-olds that she hopes will further her stable's early success.

Giddings has eight horses in her barn on the Oklahoma this summer, which she runs with the help of her 15-year-old pup Reese. Maple Leaf Mel is her only older horse, but Giddings has always enjoyed working with the babies and she is excited about the progress of each of her pupils.

On Wednesday, another auspicious grey namesake called Mel's Angel (Leofric) will make her debut at Saratoga. Picked out by Giddings for $32,000 at the OBS March Sale for owner James Kelly, the filly will face fellow New York-breds sprinting on the turf.

“Mel's Angel is really straightforward,” said Giddings. “She's a total sweetheart in the barn, but she's got a lot of feistiness on the track.”

With several new clients, Giddings hopes to be busy claiming and taking on the sales in the coming months. She understands the struggles that come with starting out on your own and she is grateful to the owners who have shown their support from the start.

“It's tough to break out on your own if you don't have people to back you,” she said. “If you're not winning, you're not making money so [support] is huge. We're super grateful to owners like Bill Parcells, who gave Maple Leaf Mel some time off when we asked him to and now she's rewarding him. I'm just glad it worked out because we all told him that it would and now here she is. I hope she can have a big year for him.”

Of course, not every horse in her stable will be another Maple Leaf Mel, but Giddings loves all her horses just the same.

“You get attached to the horses,” she said. “They all have their own personality. I mean, even if they're a five claimer of if they're a stakes winner, I love them all.”

The post Mel Giddings Enjoys First Saratoga Summer With Her Own Stable appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Cross Traffic’s Maple Leaf Mel Wins Battle of the Undefeateds in Victory Ride

Billed as a showdown between unbeaten sophomore fillies Maple Leaf Mel (Cross Traffic) and Dazzling Blue (Into Mischief), with the added bonus of Red Carpet Ready (Oscar Performance), who took down previously unbeaten Munnys Gold (Munnings) in Churchill's GII Eight Belles S. May 5, Belmont's GIII Victory Ride S. didn't disappoint as Maple Leaf Mel turned back a stiff challenge from Dazzling Blue and stayed unbeaten in five starts.

Interpolate (Into Mischief) bobbled out of the gate, but Maple Leaf Mel broke straight and true. The gray found her customary spot on the lead with ease, setting :22.54 and :45.52 fractions as Red Carpet Ready pursued her from second and Dazzling Blue followed closely in third. The trio stayed one-two-three until exiting the turn, when Red Carpet Ready dropped off and Dazzling Blue looked poised to strike. The latter tried to run down the easy-moving Maple Leaf Mel, but couldn't catch her and swapped to her wrong lead late as she tired.

“It definitely gives me a big relief,” said Melanie Giddings, a former assistant to the winner's previous trainer, Jeremiah Englehart, but now herself the trainer of record. “She's amazing. She's won at Aqueduct, Belmont, twice at Saratoga, and Pimlico. She's pretty incredible.”

The undefeated Victory Ride winner debuted last summer at Saratoga, took the state-bred Seeking the Ante S. and the state-bred East View S. with a seven-month hiatus in between, and made both her open company and graded company debut May 19 with a gate-to-wire, geared-down joyride in the GIII Miss Preakness S. at Pimlico. Never headed, Maple Leaf Mel has led at every call in all five starts. Giddings indicated the gray will target the GI Test S. Aug. 5 at Saratoga.

August Dawn Farm bought Maple Leaf Mel as a Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Spring 2-year-old last year for $150,000 after she worked in :10.2. The operation named her for Englehart's then-assistant Giddings, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2020. Englehart trained the filly for her first four starts, but Giddings took over as trainer of record after the Miss Preakness win.

“I've been texting Jeremiah all day about the filly and he wished me the best of luck,” said Giddings. “I wish he could have been here with me.”

Pedigree Notes:

Maple Leaf Mel is one of four graded winners and 15 black-type winners for Spendthrift's Cross Traffic, an Unbridled's Song son who was also represented by GI Cental Bank Ashland S. winner Defining Purpose's win in the GIII Indiana Oaks about 30 minutes prior to the Victory Ride.

A New York-bred, Maple Leaf Mel has one younger half-sibling, a 2-year-old colt by Brody's Cause. Cole Bennett had bought the mare carrying that now-2-year-old for $4,000 at the 2021 Keeneland January sale. Florida-bred City Gift is by the unraced City Place, whose four stakes winners out of his daughters include 2020 Canadian Horse of the Year Mighty Heart (Dramedy).

Saturday, Belmont
VICTORY RIDE S.-GIII, $175,000, Belmont, 7-8, 3yo, f, 6 1/2f, 1:15.74, ft.
1–MAPLE LEAF MEL, 124, f, 3, by Cross Traffic
               1st Dam: City Gift, by City Place
               2nd Dam: For My Wife, by Not For Love
               3rd Dam: Heavens to Betsy, by Miswaki
($18,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP; $150,000 2yo '22 EASMAY). O-August
Dawn Farm; B-Joe Fafone (NY); T-Melanie Giddings; J-Joel
Rosario. $96,250. Lifetime Record: 5-5-0-0, $399,650. *1/2 to
Eddie's Gift (El Corredor), SP, $167,950. Werk Nick Rating: A.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Dazzling Blue, 120, f, 3, Into Mischief–Blue Violet, by Curlin.
1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($500,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP).
O-Juddmonte; B-WinStar Farm, LLC (KY); T-Brad H. Cox.
$35,000.
3–Vahva, 120, f, 3, Gun Runner–Holiday Soiree, by Harlan's
Holiday. 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($280,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP).
O-Belladonna Racing, LLC, Edward J. Hudson, Jr., West Point
Thoroughbreds, LBD Stable LLC, Nice Guys Stables, Manganaro
Bloodstock, Runnels Racing, Steve Hornstock and Twin Brook
Stables; B-Woodford Thoroughbreds, LLC (KY); T-Cherie
DeVaux. $21,000.
Margins: 2HF, 1HF, 7. Odds: 2.75, 5.60, 8.00.
Also Ran: Interpolate, Downtown Mischief, Topsy, Red Carpet Ready, Adeliese's Smile.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

The post Cross Traffic’s Maple Leaf Mel Wins Battle of the Undefeateds in Victory Ride appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Racing Return in East View Easy Breezy for Maple Leaf Mel

Maple Leaf Mel (Cross Traffic) may have been gone since August last year, but she showed no signs of rust Friday as she floated home the easiest of winners in the East View S. at Aqueduct.

A five-length winner at first-asking Aug. 10 at Saratoga in a six panel, state-bred maiden dash over the fast main track, she returned 16 days later in the slop to duel her way to an open length victory in the state-bred restricted Seeking the Ante S. over familiar face Lady Mine (First Samurai), GSP Miracle (Mendelssohn), and another returning challenger in MSW Les Bon Temps.

Jumping well here as the heavy 1-5 favorite, Maple Leaf Mel showed the way down the backstretch, dictating all her own terms. In the two path around the bend and putting distance on the field without being asked, Maple Leaf Mel changed leads inside the three-sixteenths before drawing off by 7 3/4 lengths in the stretch to stylish return to winning ways.

“Joel [Rosario] has worked her the last couple of times down in Florida and I was happy that he wanted to come up and ride her–that gave me a lot of confidence. […] I left it [tactics] up to Joel. I don't think it matters with her,” said conditioner Jeremiah Engleheart. “I've worked her plenty of times as a 2-year-old behind horses and let her tip out and make a run. She's just a racehorse. If you put her there, she's going to try and repel everyone that comes to her. She likes to run. It's as simple as that. She likes to do what she's doing.”

As for trying open company down the road, Engleheart was hopeful the chance would arise. “Coach [Bill Parcells, owner of August Dawn Farm] wants to win a Grade I and my goal is to win a Grade I with her for him. We've talked about a couple different spots. The [state-bred] Bouwerie is an option, but it's a little further away than we wanted coming off this race.”

Out of a winning racemare, Maple Leaf Mel is a half to another multiple winner in Dr. Lloyd (The Lumber Guy), in addition to her stakes placed half'brother Eddie's Gift. They have a 2-year-old half-brother by Brody's Cause as the last registered foal under the dam thus far. This is the female line of GSP Heaven's Nook (Great Above), herself dam of GSW Frisco View (Mt. Livermore); SW Cherokee Heaven (Cherokee Run); and the dam of Venezuelan champion 2-year-old colt Rio Matiyure (Ven) (Chayim). Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

https://twitter.com/TVG/status/1639366768669114374

EAST VIEW S., $100,000, Aqueduct, 3-24, (S), 3yo, f, 6f, 1:12.75, ft.
1–MAPLE LEAF MEL, 122, f, 3, by Cross Traffic
                1st Dam: City Gift, by City Place
                2nd Dam: For My Wife, by Not For Love
                3rd Dam: Heavens to Betsy, by Miswaki
($18,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP; $150,000 2yo '22 EASMAY). O-August Dawn Farm; B-Joe Fafone (NY); T-Jeremiah C. Englehart; J-Joel Rosario. $55,000. Lifetime Record: 3-3-0-0, $213,400. *1/2 to Eddie's Gift (El Corredor), SP, $167,950.
2–Security Code, 118, f, 3, Frosted–Stopspendingmaria, by Montbrook. O-WellSpring Stables; B-Rockridge Stud, LLC, Ascendant Farms, LLC & Godolphin (NY); T-Philip M. Serpe. $20,000.
3–Les Bon Temps, 122, f, 3, Laoban–Winsanity, by Tapizar. ($65,000 Ylg '21 FTKOCT). O-Lady Sheila Stable, Deuce Greathouse, Cindy M. Hutson and Brett Setzer; B-Southern Equine Stables, LLC (NY); T-Linda Rice. $12,000.
Margins: 7 3/4, 2, 1 1/4. Odds: 0.30, 26.50, 3.10.
Also Ran: Little Linzee, Banterra, Queens Masterpiece, Lady Mine.

The post Racing Return in East View Easy Breezy for Maple Leaf Mel appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights