By Andrea Branchini
Churchill Downs, $80,418, Msw, 5-20, 2yo, 4 1/2f, :52.05, ft, 1/2 length.
LATE SEPTEMBER (c, 2, Munnings–Hello Maggie May {MSW, $264,687}, by Lemon Drop Kid) O-Dew Sweepers LLC; B-Coteau Grove Farms, LLC (LA); T-George R. Arnold, II
A number one song in America in the long hot summer of 1971 had these very first two lines: Wake up, Maggie, I think I got somethin' to say to you/It's late September and I really should be back at school.
The song was called “Maggie May” and made mullet-haired, raspy-voiced co-author Rod Stewart a world star.
It has only been fifty years or so, and now the young Churchill Downs winning colt LATE SEPTEMBER connects in his name with mama HELLO MAGGIE MAY–for audiences old and new, domestic and international (he may go to Royal Ascot). The connection is canny and sort of bittersweet, like the end of a summer. The song “Maggie May” was, after all, the story of a difficult and probably ill-fated sentimental journey of two runaways–one very young, the other not so much.
GAZELLE S.-GIII, $250,000, Aqueduct, 4-9, 3yo, f, 1 1/8m, 1:50.41, ft. 1–NOSTALGIC, 118, f, 3, by Medaglia d'Oro 1st Dam: Been Here Before (SP), by Tapit. O/B-Godolphin (KY); T-William I. Mott; J-Jose L. Ortiz.
The name of Grade III winner NOSTALGIC contains an elegant reference to her dam BEEN HERE BEFORE.
Marital Bliss, c, 3, Unified–True Bliss, by Yes It's True. Horseshoe Indianapolis, 4-27, 1m, 1:41.07. Lifetime Record: 3-1-0-1, $28,580. B-Sally J. Andersen (FL). *$70,000 Ylg '20 FTKSEL; $130,000 2yo '21 EASMAY
This is a brilliant name: marital bliss should really be unified and true bliss–yes, it's true.
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
