This is a story about a boy and a girl who loved a racehorse so much that he inspired them to combine a little old-fashioned stubbornness with a little divine intervention for the greatest gift of all.
Amy and Dean May are a married pair of 30-year-olds who love going to The Meadowlands. They aren’t regulars, but the one date etched in stone on their calendar every year is Meadowlands Pace Night, a card they’ve attended for about a decade now.
“Since my brother Kevin turned 18 and was able to start betting on the races, it’s been a tradition to go the track on Pace Night,” said Dean. “My birthday is July 13th and my dad’s birthday is July 12th, so it’s a birthday tradition to go to The Meadowlands whenever the Meadowlands Pace is.”
The night of the 2021 Pace, a name in the program caught the May family’s eye: Charlie May, who was in that night’s featured event.
“We bet on him in 2021,” said Amy. “What’s crazy is, we looked at the program and said we love that name, and so we got a picture [of the program] in the event we ever had a daughter. We have always loved the name Charlie for a girl and it was so cool to see the name with our last name. We bet on that race and lost [after Charlie May was disqualified]. That was a pivotal moment in our story. To see that he had actually been the winner [and then lost], it was a crazy sign to just show how intertwined we are with him. We didn’t find out until recently that he was later declared the winner.”
Fast forward to March of 2023, and the young engaged couple are getting close to their wedding day when they got some terrible news.
“A month before we got married, I was told I couldn’t ever have children,” said Amy. “I’m somebody that doesn’t take 'no' for an answer very easily. I was young and healthy and we did a bunch of genetic testing to see what was wrong and there was no rhyme or reason, so I just needed to try everything, get a few opinions. Our first doctor said I couldn’t ever get pregnant, but I just kept being that squeaky wheel until somebody wanted to listen to me, and we found a doctor able to help us get pregnant, which was a miracle.”
“After we got married, we were at my parents’ house and coordinated our honeymoon around Charlie May’s race [the 2023 William Haughton Memorial] on Pace Night,” said Dean. “We left for our honeymoon the day after.
“When the race started, it was like a moment of defeat -- it didn’t look good. We hadn’t really started the process of fertility yet with the new doctor, so it was just kind of like a bad case of icing on the cake. Oh, we lose again.”
But, then, driver Dave Miller skillfully guided Charlie May to a ground-saving trip and rallied to grab the win in 1:47.1 at odds of 30-1.
“When Charlie May came around and won, the feeling is something I will never forget,” said Amy. “It was a great moment. We didn’t tell anybody the love we had for the name Charlie and how we felt connected to the horse, but Dean’s family was there and they all decided to bet on it, too. It was truly an experience I will never forget. We were all jumping up and down. It was everything that we needed to go on our honeymoon. It truly felt like it was a sign from God. A sign from up above.
“It was like, it’s OK, keep pushing, yes, you’ve been in last place, and, yes, you’ve been put down. But you are meant to be parents, your baby is meant to be out there. It’s all going to work out.”
About six months after getting married, Amy was pregnant. Then, on June 19, 2024, Charlie May, the little girl, was born. “Charlie” is the name on her birth certificate. It’s the way it had to be for Amy and Dean.
Charlie May’s road from disqualified in the Meadowlands Pace to being named the actual winner sometime later after getting the DQ overturned was the first part of this perfect parlay. His win in the Haughton as a long shot when it appeared early-on he had no chance made things complete. The horse Charlie May served as inspiration to the parents of little girl Charlie May.
The May family will be at the mile oval on the night of July 12, when the $700,000 USD (est.) Meadowlands Pace tops a star-studded card. It’s unclear if their favourite horse will be racing that night, but are optimistic their little girl and the horse she’s named for will at some point come face-to-face.
“We’ve been in touch with [Charlie May’s] owner, Don Tiger,” said Dean. “And, he promised us, one way or the other, that the picture of the two Charlie Mays will happen.”
“It will complete the whole story,” said Amy. “After talking with Don, it truly showed there is a reason why we are connected to this horse. There are just so many similarities with both of our stories, and I want our Charlie to know how special she is, too, and I want a picture of her with the horse that she can see when she grows up. Don and his wife had some of the same issues Dean and I had as well.
“The Pace is something special to our family. The Meadowlands, it’s truly a place where people can get together and have a good time. We have a ton of friends and family who come out for the Pace. We have a good time. It’s special to be together. It means a lot.”
(Meadowlands Racetrack; headline photo of Charlie May winning the Haughton Memorial)