Maple Leaf Mel puts on a show in the Victory Ride (G3) July 8 at Belmont Park (NYRA/Coglianese)
NYRA Press Office
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.— Trainer Melanie Giddings returned to work on Sunday morning at Saratoga Race Course even though her heart was still broken after the loss of undefeated 3-year-old filly Maple Leaf Mel, who was just a few short strides from victory in Saturday’s Grade 1 Test when she fell to the track.
“I’m here. My crew is here. It’s not easy for them either. I spend time with the horses every single day, so we’re all here as a team,” Giddings said.
The New York-bred daughter of Cross Traffic was owned by the August Dawn Farm of Hall of Fame NFL coach Bill Parcells, who named the strapping grey after Giddings – a 39-year-old native of Cobourg, Ontario, Canada.
Maple Leaf Mel started her racing career with trainer Jeremiah Englehart and Giddings, his longtime assistant, was there with the young filly every step of the way from before her maiden win in August 2022 at Saratoga and through stakes wins against fellow state-breds in the Seeking the Ante on August 26 at the Spa and the East View in March at Aqueduct Racetrack.
Giddings traveled with the filly through winter training in Florida and back up to Pimlico Race Course in May to win the Grade 3 Miss Preakness in her first start against open company. Along the way, Giddings would post photos and videos on her social media channels of the pair of them together snoozing in Maple Leaf Mel’s stall and one popular video of the towering grey chewing on the zipper of Giddings’ jacket.
“She was my little traveling buddy. It’s a sad day. It’s what she loved to do,” Giddings said. “She never looked worse than when she came in from two months at the farm. She just loved running and she loved being here at the track. That’s what she loved the most.”
When Giddings, a cancer survivor, went out on her own as a trainer, Parcells made the decision to let Maple Leaf Mel move to her namesake’s barn. The success continued as Maple Leaf Mel romped to a frontrunning victory for Giddings in the Grade 3 Victory Ride on July 8 at Belmont Park, earning a career-best 99 Beyer Speed Figure.
The filly entered Saturday’s seven-furlong Grade 1 Test undefeated in five starts and led a talented field – that included the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks winner Pretty Mischievous – through swift splits under her regular rider Joel Rosario.
Maple Leaf Mel was lengths in front of the field as the finish line approached and on the verge of providing a first Grade 1 win for her trainer and Parcells – but she sustained a significant injury to her right foreleg and went down in the final jumps. Despite the immediate response of on-site veterinarians, the filly was humanely euthanized due to the severity of the injury.
“He was wrapping up to the wire and I don’t know if she just took a bad step,” said Giddings.
Rosario, unseated in the fall, was body sore after the incident and would require stitches to his lip. He booked off his mounts for the remainder of Saturday’s card as well as Sunday’s racing program.
Pretty Mischievous would cross the wire first in the Test, but the connections – owner Godolphin and trainer Brendan Walsh – did not bring their horse to the winner’s circle for the customary trophy presentation.
Class often shines when catastrophe shudders, and such was the case on Sunday morning when Walsh gifted the winner’s floral blanket to Giddings.
“It was the right thing to do and we feel terrible for them,” Walsh explained. “If that happened to me and my filly, I don’t know what I would do. I would be distraught. She was the best filly on the day, too, and I feel terrible for Melanie and especially after all she’s been through. I can’t even begin to imagine how she feels.
“We all got in this because of our love for the animals,” he continued. “They may think we’re doing this or we’re doing that, but we genuinely care for them. I’ve never seen the place so somber this morning or even after the races yesterday. Hopefully, we’ll all be able to pick up the pieces and put it all back together again.”
An emotionally exhausted Giddings found comfort in her friends and colleagues Sunday morning in a quiet shedrow full of curious horses nodding their heads above their stalls and one desperately empty home where she used to lay quietly with her friend and dream big.
“She was never going to lose,” Giddings said. “It’s hard to say how talented she could have been the rest of her life. She was so fast.”
