B. B. Best makes amends

MIAMI - Despite a disappointing performance by B. B. Best in his previous start, neither trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. nor the betting public lost any confidence in him. B. B. Best ($2.60) rebounded with a convincing three-length victory over his uncoupled stablemate Favre in Saturday's $75,000 Dr. Fager Stakes at Calder.

B. B. Best's easy win came on the heels of a similarly impressive performance by Aclassysassylassy, who registered a 3 1/4-length decision over the pacesetting Cut the Mustard to win the $75,000 Desert Vixen Stakes. The Dr. Fager and Desert Vixen are the opening legs of Calder's $1.2 million Florida Stallion Stakes series.

B. B. Best, who had finished a well-beaten fourth as the 1-5 favorite in the Criterium Stakes six weeks earlier, forced a rapid early pace while racing three wide in the Dr. Fager. He shook free from Captain Lindsay entering the stretch and easily held safe Favre. Favre proved no match for his stablemate but outlasted the late-striding Hostile Witness to finish second.

"He ran the way I expected," said Plesa, who trains B. B. Best for his wife, Laurie, and Bea Oxenberg. "He was wider than I'd have liked to see on the turn and they set a little faster pace than I expected, but he showed his class today. I could never find anything physically wrong with him after his last start and I was confident he'd rebound today because you just know when a horse is healthy and training good."

Aclassysassylassy rallied from just off the pace of Cut the Mustard to assume control inside the sixteenth pole en route to an easy win in the Desert Vixen. The victory was the second in three career starts for the pint-sized daughter of Wild Event, who is trained by David Vivian for his wife, Barbara, and Dominic Vittese.

Aclassysassylassy, who raced on Lasix for the first time, paid $4.40 as the favorite in a full field of 12 juvenile fillies. She covered six furlongs in 1:12.37, compared to B. B. Best's time of 1:11.93.

"I gave her six weeks between starts because she's so small," said David Vivian. "She did grow a little since her last race. Maybe about an inch."

Both B. B. Best and Aclassysassy-lassy will be pointed for the middle legs of the Florida Stallion Stakes, the seven-furlong Affirmed and Susan's Girl divisions, on Sept. 4.