He spent his early career in Ohio and West Virginia, moving to tracks in New Jersey in 1970, but then relocated to New York in 1971.
His strong 2nd-place performance earned him the opportunity of a lifetime later that year, when Turcotte was suspended from riding for five days;[citation needed] Maple rode Secretariat to victory in his last race, the Canadian International Stakes at Woodbine Racetrack.
[1][2] He competed in nine Kentucky Derbys, his best finish being a second place in 1982 behind winner Gato Del Sol.
Among his other major victories, Maple won the Travers Stakes three times, the Kentucky Oaks, the Arlington Million, and the 1991 Italian 1,000 Guineas (Premio Regina Elena) in Rome, Italy.
[1][3] He and his wife ran a retail home and garden store on Long Island, New York until 2005, when they sold the business and took on the position of General Manager at the Rose Hill Plantation Equestrian Boarding And Teaching Center in Bluffton, South Carolina.