The Orchid (Grade 3)- $150.000 Purse
GP- For Fillies and Mares Four Years Old and Upward
One Mile and One Half on the Inner Turf
April 1, 2023

She’s done it! Maggie Greene has done a lot over her career, but now she can add a pretty unique accomplishment to her legacy: winning a single stake four times in five years. Just imagine, if she was not second last year in The Orchid, we would be talking about five in a row! As a $150.000 Grade 3, there are better races that trainer The Sidley Stud would have preferred that to happen in, but no matter how you slice it, it is a tremendous feat! Congratulations to The Sidley Stud on being there throughout this horse’s career, buying her in private sales while she was unraced for a mere $6.770. This was the first time that J R Velazquez was not the winning rider of Maggie Greene in this race, and M Franco took advantage of his opportunity to do so here. The winning time was 2:25.54. Let’s take a look at it!

(1/2 Mile- :49.17)- The first half mile of the race sees a battle between Sin City Girlz, who is trained by Czech Out Farms, and Stellar Agent, who is owned by Night Rider Stables. These two show the way down the backstretch for first time and then around the opening turn. By the time they reach this point, they have pulled out to about a two and a half-length advantage over the owner of the race, The Sidley Stud’s Maggie Greene. That one is all by herself in the middle of the field, running near the rail. About a length behind her, and to her outside, is Arindel’s Moccacindy. You’ll have to go back two more lengths to the trainer, Common Misconception (Nakamura Stables).

(3/4 Mile- 1:13.55)- Not much changes as we head down the frontstretch to the halfway point of the race. Stellar Agent is about a full length ahead of Sin City Girlz now, but the two of them are still comfortably ahead of the rest of the field. Maggie Greene is still third, and as someone who knows how to win this race, she probably had them right where she wanted them. Moccacindy is a length behind her, and further back to Common Misconception, who is still by herself at the back.

(Top of Stretch, 1.5F To Go)- Down the backstretch, Maggie Greene began to close in on the top two horses. Sin City Girlz certainly felt the pressure here and would begin to back out of it. Stellar Agent still was running well, and not going to roll over just as easily. Within the final turn, Maggie Greene would pull even with that one, and very quickly, she was comfortably on by. At the top of the stretch, she now enjoyed a length lead, and there was no one else moving forward to challenge her. Moccacindy could have been a good candidate, but that one lacks response and Common Misconception was only just now catching up to the rest of the field, let alone taking a shot at the leader.

(Finish- 2:25.54)- Once we were at the top of the stretch, Maggie Greene had the race in the bag. A horse of her stature, who knows how to win this very race, was not about to collapse, and it would have taken a pretty big one for anyone else to have a shot here. She would indeed cruise home to the wire, scoring a two-length victory. Stellar Agent hangs on for second, while Common Misconception got a pair to finish third. Moccacindy and Sin City Girlz are the final two.

About The Winner- Maggie Greene, trained by The Sidley Stud and ridden to victory by M Franco, is an eight-year-old mare by the late Walkin Dead and out of the late Clear Rainbow. She was bred as a yearling in Louisiana by Team 7 Illusions and was acquired unraced in private sales by The Sidley Stud for $6.770 in November 2016. Congratulations to the connections! The win is her nineteenth in 63 starts, and her seventeenth stake win, all of which are graded. Her career earnings are now $4,512.830.

Track: Firm
Time: :49   1:13²  2:01⁴  2:25²

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 3 – 1 Paid 19.90
$1 Trifecta: 3 – 1 – 2 Paid 37.10

Scratched: None

— NS

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES