Madam Meena rolled to an 8 3/4-length victory in Saturday’s $100,000 Tax Free Shopping Distaff S. at Delaware Park in the first stakes start for the 3-year-old Include filly.
Madam Meena is Include’s third stakes winner in the past month, joining Scosin, who won the Eight Belles S. (G2) at Churchill Downs and Proud Emma in the Tranquility Lake S. at Del Mar.
Breaking from the inside post in the field of eight, Madam Meena controlled things from the outset. She had a 1 1/2-length lead after a half-mile in :45.84, then drew off very sharply in the stretch to finish the six furlongs in 1:10.20 over the sloppy going.
“I was a little bit worried having the one hole with the track being sloppy,” said winning rider Jaime Rodriguez. “When she broke good and when I saw nobody really wanted to take the lead, I saw an advantage and took it. Once we hit the top of the lane, she got big and she kept running. Today, we just found a part of the track where she was really comfortable and being on the lead helped, but she really handled the sloppy track today.”
Madam Meena has been a model of consistency in her 10 starts to date, posting a record of 6-2-1 and earning $191,450 for owner/breeder Michael Cox.
