Millie Girl notched her second straight Graded Stakes victory with a powerful come from behind charge to win the G3 Maple Leaf Stakes by two lengths at Woodbine on Saturday, 11 Nov.
It was the second straight Graded Stakes win for the five-year-old Hard Spun mare, who captured the G3 Ontario Matron over the same strip in October.
Piloted once again by jockey Rafael Hernandez, Millie Girl broke alertly and was settled at the rear of the field early, as outsider Inventing led the field through the early stages of the 10-furlong contest. Millie Girl began her move going into the far turn, rapidly making up ground on the leaders while racing four-wide.
At the top of the lane the race was wide open, as Millie Girl led a five-way battle for the lead, all the while racing the widest out near the center of the course. Millie Girl took command with less than a sixteenth of a mile left to go and began to edge clear, eventually crossing the wire two lengths ahead of the late-closing Solo Album.
Bred in Ontario by Sean Fitzhenry, Millie Girl is out of Mendocino Beano, a Graded Stakes-placed daughter of Smart Strike. In addition to Graded Stakes winner Millie Girl, Mendocino Beano is also the dam of Stakes winners Tone Broke (Broken Vow) and Stallion Heiress (Exchange Rate), and Stakes-placed Conquest Fleetfeet (Afleet Alex).
In addition to Millie Girl, Hard Spun is also represented by fellow Woodbine Stakes winners Spun Glass (G3 Ontario Fashion Stakes), Loyalty (G3 Hendrie Stakes) and Elysian Fields ($500,000 Woodbine Oaks, 2nd King’s Plate and Breeders’ Stakes).
Hard Spun will stand the 2024 breeding season at Jonabell Farm for $35,000 stands and nurses.
