Actin Good holds on in Pegasus

OCEANPORT, N.J. - Timing is everything, and trainer Robert Dibona couldn't have picked a better time to record his first stakes win as a trainer than on the undercard of Saturday's Breeders' Cup at Monmouth Park.

Dibona, who just began his seventh year as a trainer, recorded his first stakes win when Actin Good held off a quarter-mile challenge from Now a Victor to win the Grade 3, $250,000 Pegasus Stakes by a neck. Now a Victor, who put his head in front of Actin Good at the quarter pole, finished second by 2 1/4 lengths over Slew's Tizzy. Helsinki and Bwana Bull, the 9-5 favorite, completed the order of finish over the sloppy main track.

Actin Good was aided by the late scratch of Get Serious, the other speed horse in the field, who dumped jockey Chuck Lopez in the post parade and ran off.

Actin Good, breaking from the rail under Cornelio Velasquez, opened up a one-length lead while posting soft fractions of 24.43 seconds, 49.41, and 1:14.11. Now a Victor, under Ramon Dominguez, made a run at Actin Good at the quarter pole, but Actin Good battled back along the rail and prevailed through the stretch.

Actin Good, a son of Yes It's True, covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:51.54 and returned $23.80.

"Dominguez put pressure on me, but I had a lot of horse," Velasquez said. "He was coming out a little bit, but he wanted to keep going."

Dibona gelded Actin Good prior to his last start because the horse had a history of getting out and "mentally, he couldn't get his game right," said Dibona, who worked several years as an assistant to Nick Cicerone on the New England circuit. "As soon as we did it, we had a different animal on our hands."