Be Your Best takes the Suwannee River (Coglianese)
David Joseph/Gulfstream Park
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Michael J. Ryan’s Be Your Best notched her second consecutive graded stakes victory in Saturday’s $165,000 Suwannee River Handicap (G3) at Gulfstream Park.
But Saturday’s triumph in the one-mile turf event was more convincing than the last.
And this one will likely set her up for Gulfstream’s $500,000 Pegasus World Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G2) on Jan. 25.
Following a nose win in Aqueduct’s Long Island Handicap (G3), she returned with a 1 ¼-length victory over Papilio in the 78th running of the Suwannee River for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. and jockey Edgard Zayas. Ocean Club was third.
The Irish-bred Be Your Best stalked early frontrunner Swoonatra before taking charge in the final turn and pulling away, crossing the wire in 1:33.42.
Be Your Best improved to four wins in 17 lifetime starts.
Winning trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. (Be Your Best): “She was a little keen the first part which, I thought coming back, she wouldn’t be as keen. This is a good filly. We wanted to cut her back. We weren’t sure about the mile because it might be a tad on the short side but she proved herself. If she bounces out of it well, she’ll go to the Pegasus. We were originally going to go straight there, and then [owner] Mike [Ryan] called and said, ‘What about this race?’ I said she was doing good but I had only worked her once, but if he wanted to roll the dice she’ll run well fresh. Thanks to Mike Ryan for giving us the filly and we’re just super happy.”
Winning jockey Edgard Zayas (Be Your Best): “I really wanted to be closer and it had me a little worried about mentally how she was going to be, but Saffie had her ready to go. She likes to be forwardly placed and once I was stalking the pace I knew I had a good shot to win. I knew [Swoontara] didn’t have much of a shot but she was definitely going to try to go the lead so I was hoping to be able to follow him and leave [Ocean Club] covered up the whole way, and it worked out. Once I made the move she really kicked on nice. The question is not getting there [Pegasus], because she can definitely get there. She’s been longer than that. It’s just a matter of getting the right trip and I think she’ll have a really good shot.”
