R Melina is the type of horse that is difficult to evaluate from appearance alone. But after leading all three-year-old female trotters in earnings last season, and ranking as the division’s co-fastest performer, it is clear there is more to her than meets the eye.
“She’s a hard horse to judge,” said trainer John Butenschoen. “She’s not imposing to look at. When you sit behind her, until you really ask her to go, there is nothing that stands out. You don’t sit behind her and think she’s a powerhouse or a brute like some other horses that I’ve had.
“But it’s what she does when she faces competition. She’s one that’s always there. You ask her to do something and she does it. She keeps going and she doesn’t get tired. When she’s in a race and somebody comes at her or she goes at somebody, she takes off. She just can do it. She kind of tricks you a little bit that way.”
Last year, R Melina hit the board in 14 of 18 races, winning eight and earning $1,118,668 for Butenschoen and owners M And L of Delaware and Armitage Farm. She won the Kentucky Filly Futurity in 1:50.1, equalling the fastest mile of the season for a sophomore female trotter, and also counted the New York Sire Stakes championship, a division of the Delvin Miller Memorial and a Hambletonian Oaks elimination among her triumphs.
In addition, the daughter of Chapter Seven-Goodtogo Hanover finished second in the Breeders Crown, Matron Stakes and Empire Breeders Classic, and was third in the Elegantimage Stakes.
“She showed up every week,” said Butenschoen. “The thing that I like about 'Melina' is she’s raced on every sized racetrack, any kind of racetrack, and she can do it. It’s kind of fun to have one like that.”
R Melina went off stride in three of her off-the-board finishes last season, including the season-ending FanDuel Mare Trot championship against older rivals in late November at The Meadowlands, but the trainer said he shared in the responsibility.
“I think I messed up a couple starts by having her over-rigged because she could kind of be aggressive,” said Butenschoen. “We just had to tinker around.
“I take a little bit of blame for her last start when she made a mistake at The Meadowlands. We had good results when I pulled her shoes in the Kentucky [Filly] Futurity and then the Breeders Crown. I tried the same against the aged mares, but that track was a little different track later in the year. She warmed up good, but the temperature dropped and the track kind of froze up a little bit. It was a judgement call that I made. In hindsight, I was kicking myself a little bit.”
R Melina returns to The Meadowlands on Saturday for her first start as a four-year-old. She will meet nine rivals in the $40,000 USD opening leg of the Miss Versatility Series for older female trotters. The field includes 2024 FanDuel winner Nelsonbriteagle NO, millionaire M Ms Dream and multiple stakes winner Elista Hanover, also making her four-year-old debut.
Butenschoen gave R Melina two qualifiers ahead of Saturday’s race. She won the first in 1:56.3 at Mohegan Pennsylvania’s Pocono Downs on May 7 and the most recent on May 17 at The Meadowlands in 1:52.4 with a :26.4 last quarter.
“She seems really good,” said Butenschoen. “You kind of always hold your breath coming back because you just don’t know how much the three-year-old year took out of them, and are they bigger and strong enough to go against the older ones?
“But so far, she’s had two nice qualifiers. At Pocono, we got the right kind of mile into her that we wanted to see and then Todd [driver McCarthy] was able to keep her in a hole and sprint her off cover the other day in a pretty nice mile. All things considered, she’s on schedule and acting as good as she did last year. Fingers crossed.”
In addition to the Miss Versatility, The Meadowlands on Saturday will host the New Jersey Sire Stakes championships for three-year-old male and female pacers, plus the first-round divisions of the NJSS for three-year-old male and female trotters.
Racing begins at 6:20 p.m. at The Meadowlands.
(USTA)