Sweet Melania Makes Delayed Return for Saturday's Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Presented by Dixiana

When last seen at Keeneland a year ago, Robert and Lawana Low’s Sweet Melania was running her way into the record book with a stakes-record 5½-length victory in the JPMorgan Chase Jessamine (G2).

Following time off after her third-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) at Santa Anita, the daughter of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah was going to start her 3-year-old campaign here.

“The original plan was to run in April at Keeneland,” trainer Todd Pletcher said via text. “COVID-19 delayed that.”

Sweet Melania instead began appearing on the work tab at Palm Beach Downs in Florida that month. In her 2020 debut, the filly won the Wonder Again (G3) in June at Belmont Park.

Sweet Melania, a $600,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase, comes into Saturday’s $500,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (G1) Presented by Dixiana off a nose defeat in the Lake George (G3) at Saratoga on Aug. 28.

“We have been pointing to the Queen Elizabeth since the Lake George,” Pletcher said.

Sweet Melania arrived at Keeneland Sept. 29 and has been under the watchful eye of Pletcher assistant Amelia Green, who has been her regular rider in the mornings since Sweet Melania arrived at Saratoga in June 2019.

“She’s a happy little filly and a delight to ride,” Green said. “She has not changed from (age) 2 to 3. She loves her job. She’s pretty special.”