Petite but mighty R Melina vies in Breeders Crown elim

R Melina, a daughter of Chapter Seven, will face off against six harness racing rivals in the first of three $25,000 Breeders Crown eliminations for freshman trotting fillies on Thursday night, Oct. 19, at Hoosier Park. Post time for the third race is 6:57 pm, with a first race post of 6:15 pm, ET.

Foaled March 24, 2021, at Middlefield, Ohio, R Melina was bred by Marsh Valley Standardbreds and purchased by owners M&L of Delaware and Alabama Harness Association at the Lexington Select sale for $110,000 as Hip No. 224, christened Good To Go Chapter.

She was the first foal out of her Explosive Matter mare, Goodtogo Hanover 3, 1:54.1f ($315,075), and to date has earned $245,363 from five wins, one second, and one third in eight career starts under the watchful eye of trainer John Butenschoen.

Butenschoen, who stables at Wind Gate Farm in Wind Gape, PA, trains his babies at Southern Oaks Training Center during the winter months. He said the Alabama Harness Association is comprised of a professional husband-and-wife team who have gotten involved in the harness racing industry in a big way.

“They were friends with the M&L folks,” he explained. “They bought some horses with them a few years ago, and have bought more, and had some success and decided they really liked the breeding end of the business. They bought 15 trotting fillies this year and a new farm in Kentucky and hope to develop a strong broodmare band. Their new farm has 525 acres and 105 stalls and it’s an incredibly beautiful set-up.”

Beautiful is also a word that could describe R Melina, a somewhat petite, feminine filly who sports white on her right front and left hind—making her easy to spot whilst racing. She also has a splash of white on her forehead, and a small snip.

“We bought her at the Lexington Sale last fall,” Butenschoen offered. “I liked her breeding and we’ve had a lot of luck with the Chapter Sevens. She was on my “A” list of horses and fit in the way I like to see a Chapter Seven. She’s not very big but I don’t mind foals by Chapter Seven being small as they get the job done just fine. We also wanted a horse that would fit into the New York program, and she fit the bill.

“She trained down like a good horse and was really good gaited and more than willing to go forward,” Butenschoen stressed. “The biggest question we had was if she would be good for the New York circuit, and it turned out that she was.”

R Melina began her career in a June 14 qualifying race at Pocono Downs, finishing a respectable third for driver Tyler Buter, timed in 2:02.2, with a :30.1 final quarter. That set her up for a terrific pari-mutuel debut a week later, when she trotted to a 1:57.4 winning effort with Buter at the lines in a $13,000 Pocono overnight. This time she came home in :28.1. Her next effort was on July 9, in a $38,650 New York Sire Stakes at Saratoga, where she made up 10¼ lengths from the start of that NYSS event at Saratoga, to only get beaten 2¼ lengths, trotting her final panel in :28.

“That was really her best effort all year,” Butenschoen offered. “She finished third but that night I simply got her upset—I had tied her tail and put a line burr on her and Tyler (Buter) told me that she was mad the whole way around. She made a break at the start and spotted the field a ton, and then came back and only got beat a few.  We timed her in 1:56.1 and she was simply phenomenal, and that was an indication to me that she was really pretty good.”

R Melina She followed her Saratoga effort with a winning 1:56.3 triumph in a $35,900 NYSS at Tioga Downs on July 16, and ten days later won another NYSS event, this one at Yonkers, with a purse of $77,300, that saw her trot in 1:59, with a :28.4 final quarter. Butenschoen then gave the filly a three-week break, before bringing her back to qualify at Pocono Downs on Aug. 16, when she trotted in 1:57.2 with Buter at the controls. Her next start saw her prevail in 1:57.3 with a front stepping effort at Vernon, in a $51,500 NYSS on Aug. 25.

“That was the first time we raced her on a big track, and it was crappy that night and she really sprinted home well (:27.3),” Butenschoen recalled. “Tyler put her on top and she was pulling away from ‘em at the end.”

With Tim Tetrick at the helm for the first time on Sept 9, the filly broke stride and never recovered, finishing a disappointing seventh in the $225,000 NYSS Final at Yonkers.

“Those things happen,” Butenschoen admitted. “Tim (Tetrick) said he felt responsible, as it was the first time he had sat behind her, but she more than made up for that at Hoosier Park.”

With Tetrick again at the controls, this time at Hoosier Park in the $266,000 Kentuckian Stakes, R Melina cruised to a 1:53.1 triumph, besting nine healthy rivals in the process.

“She was simply spectacular at Hoosier,” Butenschoen recalled. “That was a flawless effort.”

In R Melina’s last start prior to her upcoming Breeders Crown elimination on Thursday night, she narrowly missed, beaten only a whisker to the winning Santa Croce, in the $87,500 International Stallion Stakes at Lexington’s Red Mile on Oct. 7, clocked in 1:54 with Tetrick at the lines.

“I can’t fault her there,” Butenschoen said. “She just got nipped at the wire, after being outside a good part of the way. It was still an impressive performance.”

The filly has now had nearly two weeks off to rest, and Butenschoen said like everything else with R Melina, she takes it all in stride.

“She’s about as plain and simple as you can get,” he noted. “She wears trotting boots behind and a hood, and simple bits. She’s nice to be around and really does nothing wrong. Tyler (Butenschoen) is taking care of her at LeWayne Miller’s new farm in Indiana.”

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by Kimberly Rinker, for Harnesslink