Date, jockey, track prove winning combo for Pin Up Betty in Mint Julep
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE?q=100)
Put a pin on the date June 1, 2026, just in case Pin Up Betty is entered in a grass race at Churchill Downs.
Pin Up Betty on June 1, 2024, won the Grade 3 Regret over the Churchill turf. She went through the rest of her 3-year-old season taking five defeats and started her 2025 campaign with another, but on June 1, 2025, Pin Up Betty ended that losing streak by winning the Grade 3, $250,000 Mint Julep Stakes over the Churchill grass course.
Luis Saez last rode the 4-year-old filly to a fourth-place finish this past October in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland.
“She really loves this track. At Keeneland, she’s not the same,” Saez said.
Pin Up Betty, from the evidence at hand, also has strong feelings for Saez: The Sunday score ran her career mark to 16-3-6-1, but in five races with Saez riding her record stands at 3-2-0.
Saez did not ride Pin Up Betty to her second-place finish on May 3 at Churchill in the Distaff Turf Mile, in which Pin Up Betty probably was moved earlier than ideal, making the lead a long way out before getting tagged at the wire.
In the 1 1/16-mile Mint Julep, Saez during the early stages seemed intent on getting his mount into a smooth, relaxed rhythm while racing from midpack. Sixth as Charlene’s Dream set moderate splits of 23.75 and 47.45, Pin Up Betty and Saez followed 5-2 favorite Deep Satin into the far turn and came outside her approaching the quarter pole. She passed Deep Satin and took aim at the three still ahead of her, bursting past two rivals after somewhat belatedly switching leads at the three-sixteenths marker, then collaring Charlene’s Dream a half-furlong out to win going away by 1 1/2 lengths.
Charlene’s Dream, who had just won the Gallorette Stakes at Pimlico on May 17, held second by three-quarters of a length over Movin’ On Up, who made a modest bid to split Charlene’s Dream and Pin Up Betty with about a sixteenth of a mile remaining. She didn’t get through the gap, as Charlene’s Dream drifted slightly right, and a claim of foul by jockey Frankie Dettori against both the top two finishers was disallowed.
Venencia ran on decently for fourth over fifth-place Deep Satin, who got a good enough trip despite a wide draw.
Pin Up Betty paid a generous $12.50 and was timed in 1:40.55 over firm, fast-playing turf. Mike Maker trains Pin Up Betty for her breeder, Three Diamonds Farm, who mated the Into Mischief mare I’m Betty G with the stallion Constitution to produce a filly quite fond of the Churchill Downs grass course, Luis Saez, and the first day of June.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.