Stakes-winning Park Place bay Martha Maxine passed away this past Saturday evening (June 23) at Mohawk Racetrack in Campbellville, Ont.

The eight-year-old, a career winner of 40 races and over $730,000 in purses, was contesting Mohawk's eighth race Saturday, a claiming handicap which featured an $18,000 purse.

After having broken stride off the starting gate, Martha Maxine was distanced from the rest of the field before falling and passing away on the track.

Martha Maxine was assembling another solid campaign in 2012. After having made 23 seasonal starts, the bay was boasting a record of five wins, five second-place finishes and one third-place effort, with more than $71,000 in combined purse earnings for trainers Bill Davis, Rob Fellows and Richard Moreau. The bay had just triumphed one week earlier at Mohawk, a gritty one-length victory in 1:51 on June 16.

Martha Maxine had been the subject of 'The Curious Case of the Mistaken Mares,' a popular Trot Magazine feature penned by Brittney Mayotte. The piece, which received honourable mention at the 2010 American Horse Publications Conference, delved into the rare case of the bay's mistaken sexuality.

It was initially thought that Martha Maxine was female, and the bay began its career by competing against distaffers for the first few years on the track. It was determined in the spring of 2009 that Martha Maxine was in fact an anatomical male.

After having started in 126 career races, Martha Maxine passed with a record of 40-21-10, a career-best 1:49.2 clocking at age five at Balmoral Park, and a total of $730,270 in purse earnings.

Please join Standardbred Canada in offering condolences to the connections of Martha Maxine.