In recent years Grams’s name has been synonymous with Runnin’toluvya, his talented but temperamental Fiber Sonde gelding who was retired last fall after winning 16 of 30 career outings and earning over $1.1 million, including a gritty score in the 2019 Grade 2, $1 million Charles Town Classic.

Before Runnin’toluvya, though, Grams was most often associated with two fleet-footed state-bred fillies, Fancy Buckles and Moonlit Song. Both of those runners were superb at one- and two-turn events, and Grams is hoping for similar from Maggie’s Girl.

Fancy Buckles, who raced from 2002 to 2004, won nine of 17 career outings, including four local stakes. Moonlit Song won 14 of 26 outings prior to her retirement in 2019; among those were 2017 wins in the West Virginia Breeders’ Classics Cavada and in the… wait for it… Fancy Buckles Stakes.

Back on June 1, Maggie’s Girl made her belated career debut by capturing a one-turn maiden special weight dash by eight lengths in 52.17 as the 7-2 second choice with Jose Montano aboard. She returned just over three weeks later to topple allowance foes in her first try against winners by prevailing by nearly seven lengths in 51.41 as the 3-5 choice with Montano aboard on June 24.

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That win got Grams thinking.

“When she won that night, I told my wife Judy that this filly reminds me a lot of Fancy Buckles,” Grams. “Fancy Buckles was so quick, and she stayed so low to the ground when she ran. She was good at every distance, but she was probably better going 4 1/2. Moonlit Song was fast and she won going 4 1/2, but I always thought her races were better going two turns.”

With two emphatic victories in one-turn events to begin her career, Maggie’s Girl will make her next start in one of two races in late July. She could either go in a one-turn allowance for state-bred fillies and mares that have never won three races or tackle stakes and two turns in one fell swoop for the first time in the $75,000 Sylvia Bishop Memorial Stakes for state-bred three-year-old fillies on July 29.

While the Bishop may be an ambitious spot, Grams knows eventually he will have to test Maggie’s Girl’s stamina.

“I think she’ll go two turns, but I need to put a few works in her before then to find out,” the trainer said. “I expect the stakes to come up tough with possibly Great Spirit, Barbers Point and Music Lass all going in there and I suspect Jose would stay with Crystal’s filly [Great Spirit] since she just won a stakes.”

All three of those runners, along with Maggie’s Girl, have been nominated to the Bishop, named for the first licensed female African-American trainer.

“She came out of that last race really good so if she comes right back for the allowance race [July 27]I think I can find a couple of two-turn allowance races for her in August and September,” Grams said. “I would like to have her ready for that two-turn stakes on [West Virginia] Breeders’ Classics Night. I think she’ll be fine going two turns and that’s where the stakes are in the summer and fall, but I’ll let her tell us where she’s going next. I’ve got a little more time to have her ready for the three-year-old filly stakes on Breeders’ Classics night.”

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