My Mane Squeeze makes it three in a row with Maddie May victory

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – As a student at Loyola College in the 1970s, William Butler used to attend the races at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore and would usually be there on Black-Eyed Susan day, the eve of the Preakness. He would marvel at the 3-year-old fillies before him and wonder what it would be like to have a horse in that race.

“Section double-A at Pimlico, I would hang out there on a regular basis and on Friday there would be nobody there for the Black-Eyed Susan and I would see these magnificent 3-year-old fillies run,” Butler said. “It was a goal I set back then.”

In My Mane Squeeze, Butler, a prominent owner and breeder of New York-breds, perhaps may have a 3-year-old filly worthy of realizing that goal.

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On Sunday, My Mane Squeeze won her third consecutive New York-bred stakes, overtaking Landed in midstretch and drawing clear to a decisive 4 3/4-length victory in the $100,000 Maddie May at Aqueduct. Landed was second by eight lengths over Bernietakescharge.

My Mane Squeeze, named by Butler for his wife Loretta, added the Maddie May to a victory in last month’s Frankin Square and last October’s Maid of the Mist. Overall, My Mane Squeeze has four wins and two thirds from six starts.

My Mane Squeeze, by Audible, is the fourth winner produced by the Butler-owned mare In Speight of Mama. My Mane Squeeze is a half-sister to the Butler owned 5-year-old Rotknee, a five-time stakes winner who last month captured the Say Florida Stakes here. The filly Mama’s Gold, another sibling to My Mane Squeez, won a $25,000 claimer by 21 1/4 lengths in January 2023, though she was claimed from Butler and his trainer Mike Maker that day.

Coming off the Franklin Square victory, My Mane Squeeze was sent off the 3-5 favorite Sunday. Breaking from post 10 under Jose Lezcano, My Mane Squeeze found herself a stalking third, behind Landed and Blue Eyed Warrior. After a half-mile run in 47.59 seconds, Blue Eyed Warrior dropped back and Landedbegan to get clear.

Lezcano had identified Landed as a main threat and said “I [wanted] to keep her close to me and see what happens. I rode [My Mane Squeeze] like she’s the best horse in the race, kepther face clean and when I asked her she kept going and won the race.”

My Mane Squeeze covered the mile in 1:40.64 and returned $3.30. She gave trainer Mike Maker his 11th win of the meet, fourth in a stakes. It was the third stakes win here this winter for Butler.

“When you’ve got a 3-5 shot, my belly’s churning,” Butler said. “When she took the lead before the eighth pole, she started to spread out a little bit and I think I was hugging my wife by the time the finish line came up. I am thrilled.”

Butler said since he’s actually become a horse owner, having a runner in the Black-Eyed Susan “was not part of a dream,” he said.

But, if Maker believes it’s worth a try stretching My Mane Squeeze out in distance against open company, he’s not going to balk.

“I don’t have a plan, Mike has a plan, I follow Mike’s plan and it’s gotten me here,” Butler said. “Why should I change?”

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