My Mane Squeeze and Luis Saez cruise to the finish of Saturday’s Grade 3 Fasig-Tipton Dogwood Stakes at Churchill Downs. Coady Media.
By Paul Halloran
For a New York-bred, My Mane Squeeze sure likes Kentucky.
William “Buck” Butler’s homebred, whom he owns in partnership with WinStar Farm, made it 2-for-2 under the twin spires with a convincing 5-length win in the Grade 3 Fasig-Tipton Dogwood Stakes Saturday.
My Mane Squeeze also won the Grade 2 Eight Belles Stakes on this year’s Kentucky Derby undercard. The 3-year-old filly won for the sixth time in 12 career starts and increased her earnings to $988,460.
In the Dogwood, My Mane Squeeze, the 3-2 favorite, covered the 7-furlong distance in a final time of 1:22.27 under Luis Saez for trainer Mike Maker.
“Today the plan was to try to break and be a little closer than last time,” Saez said, referring to a closing second-place finish in the Grade 2 Charles Town Oaks. “The track is pretty tight, and the plan was to put her in the clear as soon as possible. Everyone wanted to be up front early. She was in a good spot, and when she got to the top of the stretch, she was loaded.”
Neom Beach won a battle for the lead after a quarter-mile in :22.39, with Legadema, Fibber and Halina’s Forte all within a length up the backstretch. My Mane Squeeze tracked just behind them while in the clear. Around the far turn, after a half-mile in :45.95, Legadema briefly took the lead but was quickly confronted by My Mane Squeeze on her outside in mid-stretch. Saez and My Mane Squeeze kicked clear to take a convincing victory over Fibber, with Legadema third.
A daughter of Audible, My Mane Squeeze is out of the Speightstown mare In Spite of Mama, who is of the Carson City mare Mama Theresa, Butler’s only graded-stakes horse until Rotknee and My Mane Squeeze came along. My Mane Squeeze and Rotknee, who were foaled at Keane Stud in Amenia, are two of four winners out of In Spite of Mama.
Butler took on WinStar Farm as a partner after My Mane Squeeze’s victory in the February 18 Maddie May Stakes at Aqueduct.
In Spite of Mama is also the dam of the 6-year-old New York-bred Into Mischief colt Lookin for Trouble, a winner and multiple stakes-placed for Butler and Maker, and 4-year-old New York-bred Bolt d’Oro colt Mama’s Gold, a four-time winner with earnings of $191,041; and a New York-bred 2-year-old filly by 2019 Preakness Stakes winner War of Will and a yearling full brother to Rotknee.
In Spite of Mama, a 12-year-old out of the Carson City mare Mama Theresa, won three times for Butler and Maker. Butler bought Mama Theresa for $65,000 at the 2005 OBS April sale of 2-year-olds in training. She won six of 25 starts, placed in two stakes and earned $240,898 for Butler and Timothy Twomey and the late trainer Dominic Galluscio.
In Spite of Mama is Mama Theresa’s second foal and a half-sister to five other winners, including Mana’s Dream and stakes winner A Freud of Mama, a $399,818 earner who finished third in the Grade 3 Matron Stakes at Belmont Park in 2019 for Butler and Maker.
