Mamzelle – (Grade lll)

Purse $300.00 – For Fillies Three Years Old

5 1/2 Furlongs – Turf

Churchill Downs – April 30, 2026

Locked in an intense stretch battle, Solar Lady would not be denied and clung on to win by a nose in the 13th running of the Mamzelle. With this victory, the daughter of Solar System is now a two-time consecutive graded stakes winner sprinting on the grass, each as the favorite. She covered the 5½ furlongs in 1:02.81, and her career earnings climbed to $480.34. It was also the first Mamzelle victory for both Maxmillion Farm and jockey John Velazquez, delivering in style on a big stage. Having shown she can perform equally well going both short and long, this California-bred provides her connections with a wide range of options heading into the summer months. She’s come a long way from being purchased for $55.00 as a two-year-old, continuing to show improvement as her speed figures rise with every start. Maxmillion Farm deserves plenty of credit, and it will be interesting to see where she shows up next!

Winner: Solar Lady – (Maxmillion Farm, J R. Velazquez) Breaking from the gate as the ⅗ favorite, Solar Lady worked out an ideal trip from start to finish. The three horses to her inside didn’t have much speed, so that allowed jockey John Velazquez to race three-wide down the backside. She sat just outside of Mini Mulite until the 5/16 pole and slowly started to inch away. It wasn’t until the final furlong that Top Nurse came on the scene to the outside, and Solar Lady was trying hard to put her head in front. In the end, this filly did not let anyone pass her and prevailed by a nose. This California-bred is one to put in your watchlist for this summer.

Second Place: Top Nurse – (Our Athletes, B. Curtis) After showing little speed from the gate, Top Nurse was left racing four-wide the entire way around the 5½ furlongs. She settled in third around the fat turn just off the hip of Solar Lady. Jockey Ben Curtis started asking this filly to go at the top of the stretch, and she responded by putting her nostrils in front inside the final 1/16. Yes, if you look back, Top Nurse was actually leading for almost half a second before the eventual winner took back the advantage to the inside. The outside draw no question cost this filly the race—any closer to the rail and she probably wins. Not a bad effort at all.

Third Place: Lagos – (Family Racing, E J. Zayas) This was another filly who didn’t show any gate speed and ended up being three lengths off the pace. She saved all the ground being on the rail down the backside and rounding the far turn. Edgar Zayas was looking for some room to run at the top of the stretch, and didn’t panic as there were no running lanes open. At the 3/16 pole, the rail opened up and Lagos started to close like a freight train. This daughter by Our Dark Knight was gobbling up ground fast, however she was too far back early on and had to settle for third. All this filly needs is a fast pace to show her best moving forward. Another one to watch.

Fourth Place: Higgs P – (Robeth, A. Fresu) Not only was this West Virginia-bred cutting back in distance, but she was trying out some new equipment too. Connections decided to introduce Lasix for this start, and while the result fell short of a win, it was still a respectable showing. Higgs P settled in fifth, about two lengths off the pacesetters down the backstretch and around the turn. She was staring at a wall of horses at the top of the stretch, and there was really nowhere to go. Jockey Antinoo Fresu was waiting for some room and got shut off twice. Higgs P didn’t get going until the final furlong, but showed a lot of fight to get up for fourth in the short amount of time she had.

– AJM

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES