Former claimer Melmich eyes first graded win in Valedictory

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Trainer Kevin Attard claimed Calgary Cat for owners Stephen Chesney and Cory Hoffman in November 2013 and helped him become a graded stakes winner and Canadian champion male sprinter the following season. Attard will have the chance to turn another former claimer into a graded stakes winner with Melmich in the Grade 3, $150,000 Valedictory Stakes at 1 3/4 miles on Nov. 29.

Melmich won the local prep for the Valedictory over 1 5/8 miles on the Polytrack by two lengths over Pender Harbour in his most recent start Nov. 5 and has now won four of his last five starts.

“He ran a great race in the prep,” Attard said. “He and Pender Harbour, I think they ran the last three-eighths in 36 seconds flat, which is quite impressive going that distance of ground. Melmich is doing well, and hopefully he continues to do well in the next couple of weeks.”

Melmich was claimed by Attard, Chesney, and Hoffman for $20,000 in September 2014. In his 10 starts with Attard, Melmich has recorded seven wins and has failed to hit the board just once while also capturing his first stakes victory in the Elgin Stakes this past September.

Attard said the connections originally had their eyes on Melmich when he was in for $12,500 in August 2014 but finally dropped the slip on him when he entered a $20,000 claiming race Sept. 26, 2014.

“We had talked about claiming him the one time for $12,500, and nothing really came of it,” he said. “He had run a good race for $40,000, and the day he came back in for $20,000, we decided to drop the slip on him. I guess the rest has been history.”

The only time Melmich did not finish among the top three for Attard was two starts back in his graded stakes debut, the Grade 3 Durham Cup on Oct. 3. Though Melmich was stepping up in class, Attard said the horse could have improved his finish position with a better trip.

“I didn’t think he had the best of trips in the Durham Cup,” he said. “He was kind of stalled a little bit. I don’t know if we were going to beat the winner that day, but I think he definitely could have been second.”

Attard said Melmich was considered for the Grade 2 Autumn Stakes on Nov. 8, but he decided the horse was better suited to the longer distance of the Valedictory and the prep race.

“We could have run in the Autumn, but I always had the Valedictory in the back of my mind,” he said. “I thought he could go that distance of ground, so we figured to get him an easier race going into the Valedictory would be the prep. It kind of worked out well, and he’s come out of the race well.”