Pegasus Filly and Mare Turf: Be Your Best hangs on for third consecutive stakes win
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HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - There was a time when Be Your Best couldn’t seem to win a race. Now, she doesn’t seem to lose.
Be Your Best won her third consecutive stakes race Saturday, but definitely her most significant, holding off a late run from Sacred Wish to win the Grade 2, $490,880 Pegasus Filly and Mare Turf by a neck at Gulfstream Park.
It was 1 1/2 lengths back to In Our Time in third as the first- and third-place finishers were trained by Saffie Joseph Jr.
Pounce finished fourth, followed by Raqiya, Bless My Stars, Papilio, Minoushka, Watchtower, Dona Clota and De Regreso.
Be Your Best won the first two starts of her career, but then lost 13 straight. The Pegasus Filly and Mare Turf followed wins in the Grade 3 Long Island and Grade 3 Suwanee River.
On Saturday, under Edgard Zayas, Be Your Best sat second, 1 1/2 lengths behind In Our Time who, under Edwin Gonzalez, set fractions of 22.88 seconds for the quarter and 46.81 for the half-mile. Zayas moved Be Your Best within a half-length of In Our Time going into the far turn. But it wasn’t until inside the sixteenth pole that Be Your Best could overtake In Our Time.
Meanwhile, Sacred Wish, after having to split horses around the far turn under John Velazquez and rally outside of Raqiya in the stretch, came with a strong closing kick that fell just short.
Though Zayas said he liked the trip he was getting on Be Your Best, he admitted he might have moved her too soon.
“I think I probably could have waited a little longer, but I was worried about the track, it’s been playing really, really fast, but it worked out good at the end,” Zayas said.
Said Joseph: “I thought Edgard probably moved a tad soon. I know he won, but it opened up the race to set up for the closers. Thank God, she hung on. She’s a very good filly.”
Joseph was sent the horse - previously trained by Horacio De Paz - by owner Mike Ryan during the summer. After a sixth-place finish in the Grade 2 Rodeo Drive, Be Your Best won the Long Island at 1 3/8 miles, a distance Joseph thought was too far, and the Suwanee River at a mile.
“I thank Mike Ryan for giving her to use, he’s been a big supporter of me from very, very early on,” Joseph said. He fired me once, hired me back. I’ve never really been able to repay him the way he’s helped me. I know this filly, it’s a special moment for him, because she’s a homebred.”
Be Your Best, a 5-year-old daughter of Muharaar, covered the 1 1/16 miles in 1:39.06 (98 Beyer Speed Figure) and returned $16.80 to win.
Joseph said his goal is to make Be Your Best a Grade 1 winner.
Velazquez said he had to wait a little at the head of lane and felt he had too much ground to make up turning for home.
“When I got out at the quarter pole, I said I’m going to have to be superman to get there,” Velazquez said.
In Our Time drew into the Pegasus Filly and Mare Turf from the also-eligible list.
“I was proud of her effort,” Joseph said. “For her to pick up a Grade 2 placing was huge. I think she’ll eventually knock off a graded stakes. That would be our goal.”
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