Never Be Enough notches first career stakes win in Kathryn Crosby

DEL MAR, Calif. - Never Be Enough began 2020 with a seventh-place finish in a handicap hurdle at tiny Musselbergh Racecourse in Scotland on Jan. 1. She ended October with a first career stakes win in Saturday’s $81,600 Kathyrn Crosby Stakes at Del Mar.

Ridden by Tiago Pereira, Never Be Enough closed from sixth in a field of seven with a wide rally to win the one-mile restricted turf race for fillies and mares by a length over Colonial Creed.

Never Be Enough ($14.80) was timed in 1:33.87. The victory gave Northern California-based trainer Manuel Badilla his first stakes win at Del Mar.

Never Be Enough earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 86.

Pereira had Never Be Enough on the rail on the backstretch, well behind pacesetter She’s Our Charm, who set an early pace of 22.59 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 45.94 for a half-mile. Pereira moved Never Be Enough to the outside entering the turn.

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“When she got outside, she wanted to go,” Pereira said. “She responded very well. She finished very strong.”

Colonial Creed closed from fourth to finish three-quarters of a length over 9-2 Cordiality, the winner of the restricted Swingtime Stakes at Santa Anita on Oct. 3.

Ellie Arroway finished fourth in the Kathryn Crosby, followed by She’s Our Charm, Muchly, and Proud Emma.

The Crosby was restricted to non-winners of a first-place purse of $50,000 other than statebred stakes at a mile or over since April 1. Never Be Enough has won 7 of 27 starts. She earned $46,740 with the win in the Crosby for owner Ron Charles and Samuel Gordon. Charles is a longtime horse owner who was president of Santa Anita from 2004 to 2010.

A 5-year-old mare by the Mark of Esteem stallion Sir Percy, Never Be Enough has won 6 of 22 starts in flat races and has had one win in five starts in hurdle races in Great Britain.

The Crosby was Never Be Enough’s fourth win in her last five starts, a span that includes a win in a $40,000 claimer at Golden Gate Fields in her second start in the United States in June. Never Be Enough was sent to California in the spring.