by Mike Paradise, for the Illinois Harness Horsemen’s Association

Crete, IL — Martha Maxine can do something at Balmoral Park on Super Night Saturday that no horse has ever done — and very likely won’t ever duplicate; win a major state-bred stake championship one year as a female and follow it up the next with another as a male.

Can’t happen, you say?

Well you can bet that this strange-but-true story could very well occur when the best Illinois bred pacers and trotters compete for nearly $1.5 million in purses Saturday on Super Night 2009.

Balmoral Park photo

Martha Maxine (Marcus Miller) had the fastest Super Night elimination victory last week with a 1:49.2 clocking at Balmoral Park.

In her — make that his — fourth start ever as “a boy” Martha Maxine was a romping five-plus length winner in his Tony Maurello stake elimination in 1:49.2, one of the fastest miles so far this year on the Chicago circuit, likely earning him the role as the favorite for the $125,000 Maurello Championship for ICF pacing males, age three and up.

A year ago on Super Night 2008 Martha Maxine was much the best in the $100,000 Ann Vonian Final for state bred fillies and mares with a 1:50.1 mile, a season where she won 13 of 20 starts and banked more than $193,000 for owners Erv Miller Stable, Tony Alagna and Brittany Farms. This season she had almost $250,000 on her card when it was determined that she wasn’t a she, but a he.

A post-race anabolic steroid test after Martha Maxine’s second place finish in the Betsy Ross at Harrah’s Chester revealed abnormally high readings for the male hormone testosterone. According to a report from the New Bolton Center School of Veterinary Medicine in Pennsylvania, Martha Maxine is a male pseudo hermaphrodite with 64 intact chromosomes and carries the sex chromosomes X and Y, like a male.

After being informed of the test results by the Bolton School, the USTA reclassified Martha Maxine as a male and notified the horse’s connections of their ruling.

“I was stunned to find out that they determined Martha Maxine to be a male horse,” said trainer and co-owner Erv Miller. “Brittany Farms bought in on her (May of 2008) for broodmare purposes and of course they have to be very disappointed that can’t happen.”

Can Martha Maxine do as well racing against the top males as he did against many of the high level fillies and mares?

“He hasn’t been tested much yet,” replied Miller before he sent Martha Maxine out for his strong elimination triumph. “We have to see if the horse can compete with some of the better boys.”

We’ll get a good indication on how well Martha Maxine’s career will fare as a male when he takes on nine rugged ICF rivals in the $125,000 Tony Maurello Final, one of eight Super Night championships to be decided Saturday.

For what it’s worth — and perhaps zero — Martha Maxine had a best winning time of 1:50 as a female in 2-1/2 seasons of racing. In his fourth start as a male, he lowered that mark by three-fifths of a second with his 1:49.2 clocking last weekend.

— Mike Paradise writes a daily column for the IHHA at www.harnessillinois.com