Tragedy at Saratoga: Maple Leaf Mel euthanized after collapsing at wire, Pretty Mischievous wins Test Stakes
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Maple Leaf Mel was streaking to the finish line in Saturday's Grade 1 Test at Saratoga, about to give her connections - the Hall of Fame football coach Bill Parcells and the young trainer Melanie Giddings - the biggest victory of their careers.
Then tragedy struck.
Ten yards, perhaps closer, to the finish line, Maple Leaf Mel stumbled, hurling jockey Joel Rosario to the ground. The injuries to Maple Leaf Mel - a comminuted fracture to her right front fetlock with dislocation of the joint - were not repairable and she had to be euthanized on the track.
Behind her, Pretty Mischievous ($5.70) outfinished Clearly Unhinged to win the $500,000 Test by a head. To say it was a hollow victory would be an understatement.
“It’s just cruel what happened,” trainer Brendan Walsh said. “I just feel terrible for Melanie and that whole team. That must be gut wrenching, absolutely gut wrenching. I know one thing: I’ll never win a Grade 1 again and feel as bad.”
As Walsh concluded a brief interview, Parcells, surrounded by family and friends, was making his way from the box seat area to the escalator to exit the track. He thanked those who offered condolences, but didn’t say anything else.
Maple Leaf Mel, a New York-bred daughter of Cross Traffic, had won all five of her starts. Parcells had named the filly for Giddings, who last year was the assistant to Jeremiah Englehart, the trainer who had the filly for her first four starts. Giddings went out on her own late last year and Parcells felt the filly belonged with her.
Giddings, 39, who had overcome a battle with stage 4 ovarian and endocervical cancer, won her first graded stakes with Maple Leaf Mel in the Grade 3 Victory Ride at Belmont in July.
On Saturday, facing the toughest field she had met to date, Maple Leaf Mel had glided to the lead, setting fractions of 22.28 seconds and 44.58 for the half-mile under Rosario. Munnys Gold made a run at her, but Maple Leaf Mel shrugged her aside. She had a 2 1/2-length lead at the eighth pole and looked like a winner, until she fell.
Rosario lay on the ground for several minutes. He got up and, with assistance, and walked to an awaiting ambulance. He needed stitches in his lower gums, according to Terry Meyocks, the Jockeys Guild’s national manager, and was going to Albany Medical Center to get them.
Meanwhile, Pretty Mischievous, who raced in sixth position and a bit wide under Tyler Gaffalione down the backside, was able to outfinish Clearly Unhinged to get up by a head. It was 1 3/4 lengths back to Munnys Gold.
Dorth Vader finished fourth, followed by Jersey Pearl, and Tappin Josie.
Pretty Mischievous, a daughter of Into Mischief owned and bred by Godolphin Racing, is now a three-time Grade 1 stakes winner. She won the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs in May and the Acorn at Belmont in June.
Javier Castellano, the rider of Clearly Unhinged, felt his filly was going to win the race but, he said, she stopped in her tracks when she saw Maple Leaf Mel go down.
“She put me in a good spot turning for home. I stepped up outside and let her roll and I’m going to win the race,” Castellano said. “My horse saw the other horse go down and that stopped her momentum and that’s why I got beat.”
Pending a review, there is no final time for the Test as Rosario tumbling across the finish line triggered the timing system. The Beyer Speed Figure team calculated an 87 figure for the Test.
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