Through the first stages of her career, Maggie’s Girl gave trainer Tim Grams the impression that her natural early speed would enable her to have a distinct advantage over her state-bred rivals going two turns.

But sometimes it’s Plan B that’s the one that actually works out.

In each of the last two years, Maggie’s Girl has capped the West Virginia Breeders’ Classic night program by capturing the one-turn stakes dash for state-bred fillies and mares. In previous years, the program ended with the $50,000 Blue & Gold Stakes, but last month Maggie’s Girl prevailed in the inaugural $75,000 1/ST Bet Breeders’ Classic, a 4 ½-furlong dash that replaces the Blue and Gold.

That win marked the first time there’s been an official WVBC race going one turn for fillies and mares. It also has given Grams the road map to Maggie’s Girl’s future.

“She’s won up here going two turns, but she never looks like she’s comfortable in those races,” Grams said of Maggie’s Girl. “She’s just one of those fillies that doesn’t like to be taken ahold of. She looks like she’s okay, but she’s really not enjoying it.”

Maggie’s Girl had initially suggested to her connections that she was perhaps a perennial bridesmaid in stakes, reeling off numerous allowance victories but failing to deliver in stakes, even as an odds-on choice in some cases. In fact, she had placed in four stakes without winning one heading into the latter part of last year.

But Maggie’s Girl finally shed the bridesmaid role when she captured the $40,000 Autumn WVB Overnight Stakes in August 2024 and then captured the $50,000 Blue & Gold Stakes, both one-turn dash events.

“There’s a two-turn stakes up here in the spring [the Original Gold], so I’ve tried her in there a few times,” Grams said. “But then I have to cut her back for the next group of allowance and stakes races. Once I cut her back, I really don’t need to stretch out. It seems like she would do well going two turns up here because she can really rate, but she’s not happy when [jockey] Larry [Reynolds] takes a hold of her. I mean, she looks like she’s doing it easily, but she’s not happy.”

Maggie’s Girl finished third in the 2024 Original Gold, defeated at odds of 3-5 by Lightnin Runner and stablemate Moonlit Shadow. In this year’s edition, she dueled for the early advantage before fading to sixth.

In both years, she subsequently came back to be the beaten favorite in the one-turn Fancy Buckles. This year’s schedule also included a trip to Delaware Park in July, where she finished a good third in an allowance contest.

Grams tried her in the Sadie Hawkins in August where again she was made the odds-on favorite. She dueled with Juba’s Parade for much of the trip but didn’t shift gears on the far turn and faded to fourth as The Sky Is Falling overhauled her in the lane. That race gave Grams his final indication that her future would be limited to one-turn races.

“She ran so well at Delaware Park in that six-furlong race up there against some really good horses that I should have not gone back in that seven-furlong stakes here,” Grams said. “She came back out of the Sadie Hawkins fine, and she’s been really good since then. But she’s going to remain in the one-turn stakes.”

Maggie’s Girl is a homebred for Grams and his wife Judy. She is by Uncle Lino out of the winning First Defence mare Maginot Line. In all Maggie’s Girl, now a five-year-old, has won 14 of 26 starts with earnings of nearly $360,000. And there’s more to come.

“She’s always been a sound horse, so we’ll probably find another race for her this year and then aim for the same races next year,” Grams said. “We have plenty of broodmares on the farm, so we don’t need to stop with her.”