Be Your Best wins the Pegasus World Cup Filly & Mare Turf (Lauren King)
Mary Eddy/NYRA Press Office
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Michael J. Ryan’s Grade 1-winning Irish homebred Be Your Best will return on three weeks’ rest in search of a Breeders’ Cup berth in Saturday’s Grade 2, $500,000 Flower Bowl, a 1 3/8-mile inner turf test for older fillies and mares, at Saratoga Race Course.
The Flower Bowl [Race 10] awards a “Win and You’re In” berth into the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf and is one of three stakes on Saturday’s card, which also features the Grade 1, $300,000 Spinaway [“Win and You’re In” for the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies] in Race 11 and Grade 3, $175,000 Prioress in Race 7. First post on the 13-race card is 12:05 p.m. Eastern.
Trained by Saffie Joseph, Jr., Be Your Best was last seen posting a prominent third-place finish in the Grade 2 Beverly D. on August 9 at Colonial Downs. There, she sat off the pace set by Charlene’s Dream through splits of 23.78 seconds, 48.30 and 1:11.63 over the firm turf with a gap back to the rest of the field. Those two battled it out down the stretch before Charlene’s Dream kicked clear to victory while Spanish Eyes rallied late to take place honors by a neck over Be Your Best.
Joseph, Jr. said Be Your Best was likely hindered by pressing the pace.
“I thought she ran well in the Beverly D., it’s just it kind of became a tricky race pace wise,” Joseph, Jr. reflected. “We took back and let the other horse go and that horse kept going. We didn’t think that other filly could go the distance, but she did. I think we compromised our horse a little bit by giving up the lead, but hindsight is always 20/20 and we’ll move forward now and hopefully she can rebound in this race. She’s doing well and training well, so we’ll give it a shot.”
Joseph, Jr. added he chose to bring the 5-year-old daughter of Muhaarar back on short rest because of the Flower Bowl’s status as a “Win and You’re In” event. She worked three-eighths in 38 seconds flat on August 24 over the Saratoga main track.
“She’s doing well and had a work,” Joseph, Jr. said. “She’s coming back quick from the Beverly D., but she seems like she bounced out well and this is a ‘Win and You’re In,’ so that plays into it.”
Be Your Best has put together a short but strong campaign this year, beginning with a neck victory in the Grade 2 Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf Invitational in January at Gulfstream Park and following two starts later with her first Grade 1 victory in the nine-furlong Gamely in May at Santa Anita Park.
The consistent mare began her career with trainer Horacio De Paz, and moved to the Joseph, Jr. barn last fall, leading to her first graded victory at second asking for her current trainer when a nose winner of the Grade 3 Long Island going this distance in November at Aqueduct Racetrack.
Be Your Best makes her first Saratoga start for Joseph, Jr., but ran well here for De Paz in four outings, highlighted by a pair of 1 1/16-mile wins to begin her career as a juvenile in 2022 with a debut graduation and a 3 3/4-length victory in the Listed P.G. Johnson.
“She’s had a very good year. To win the Pegasus Turf with her and then to get that Grade 1, that was important on her resume,” Joseph, Jr. said. “She’s got a high cruising speed and she does stay, so hopefully the turf will be firm. We know she likes it there already, we just need it to be firm.”
Edgard Zayas, who engineered the Pegasus victory and a one-length score in the Grade 3 Suwannee River in December at Gulfstream, will return to the irons from post 7.
Trainer Miguel Clement began training in late May after taking over the stable of his late father, Christophe, and has gotten off to a strong start, including five turf stakes wins this meet at the Spa, led by a Grade 1 triumph with Deterministic in the FanDuel Fourstardave on August 2. He looks to keep his summer success rolling with a trio of entrants in dual graded stakes-winner La Mehana [post 4, Kendrick Carmouche], Grade 3-winner Bellezza [post 8, Jaime Rodriguez] and five-time-winner In Time [post 5, Dylan Davis].
LSU Stables’ La Mehana enters from an 8 3/4-length trouncing of the Grade 2 Glens Falls traveling 1 1/2 miles over yielding Spa green on July 27. There, she tracked in third through the early stages and made her move in the final turn to range up along the outside of pacesetter and returning rival Long Ago. She drew away in the stretch to post the facile victory in a final time of 2:30.54, which garnered a career and field-best 104 Beyer Speed Figure.
The 6-year-old daughter of Al Wukair doubled up on victories after a one-length optional claiming victory in June at Belmont at the Big A, where she also won the Grade 3 Waya last year. She scored additional 1 1/2-mile stakes wins in her native France in 2023 over good-to-soft going at Chantilly and over soft footing at Saint-Cloud before a Group 1-placing when third in the Prix de Royallieu at Longchamp in her final effort before moving stateside.
“She is ticking along nicely,” Clement said. “She was an impressive winner of the Glens Falls – she has an affinity for soft turf which is shown on her form in Europe. She’s also getting good. Her start two back was very impressive at Aqueduct. It’s funny to say, but even as a 6-year-old she’s improving.”
Moyglare Stud Farm’s Irish homebred Bellezza also had graded success at Belmont at the Big A when taking the 11-furlong Grade 3 Sheepshead Bay in May at 10-1 odds under returning rider Jaime Rodriguez. The 4-year-old Siyouni bay followed with a pair of placings over yielding footing here, landing third in the 1 3/16-mile Grade 1 New York presented by Rivers Casino on June 6 and second in the Glens Falls behind La Mehana.
Clement said he is hoping for firmer turf on Saturday.
“She’s had three starts in America and was an impressive winner of the Sheepshead Bay on firm turf,” Clement said. “She was fortunate enough to get third and a Grade 1 black type placing while running on heavy ground in the New York and she got a Grade 2-placing as well last time. In terms of her pedigree, it’s a big deal to do well in these graded races and I’m sure you’ll see another dimension on firm turf.”
Bellezza began her career in her native Ireland with trainer Ger Lyons, where her seven starts included a debut maiden win in July 2023 sprinting seven furlongs at Leopardstown and a neck score in the 10-furlong Diamond over the Dundalk synthetic in her final start before moving to the Christophe Clement barn.
Completing the Clement tetrad is Hoolie Racing Stable’s In Time, who makes her return to stakes company off a neck optional claiming win going 1 1/2 miles on July 6 here. The 6-year-old Zarak mare has not tried stakes company since finishing seventh into a consecutive trio of Group 2s in the Prix de la Nonette in August 2022 at Deauville and the Cape Verdi and Balanchine in February 2023 at Meydan.
In Time boasts a 3-1-2-0 record at Saturday’s distance, led by an allowance win here last summer. She has been training at Belmont Park since her last effort, and worked a half-mile in 50.88 seconds on August 22 over the dirt training track.
“She had a very good work at Belmont,” Clement said. “She loves Saratoga as well and is training very forwardly.”
Steep opposition will be provided by Cayton Park Stud’s graded stakes-winning homebred Marksman Queen [post 1, Luan Machado], who gave trainer Graham Motion a record-extending 10th victory in Delaware Park’s Grade 3 Robert G. Dick Memorial last out on July 5.
The 5-year-old Dubawi mare led at every point of call going about this distance last out, and dug in determinedly when challenged late by Spanish Eyes to cling to a head victory in a final time of 2:15.85. The win marked her first graded score, and came on the heels of a similar pacesetting win in the 12-furlong Listed Keertana in May at Churchill Downs.
The British-bred bay holds a 17-5-3-2- record – including an additional graded placing when third in Del Mar’s Grade 3 Red Carpet in November – with $382,424 in total purse earnings. She is out of the dual graded stakes-winning Touch Gold mare Sharp Susan and is a half-sister to multiple South African Group 1-winner Oh Susanna and Australian Group 3-winner Signore Fox.
Completing the field are Chris Nolan’s Grade 2-placed Long Ago [post 3, Ricardo Santana, Jr.] for trainer Billy Morey, Flying P Stable’s stakes-placed Amber Cascade [post 2, Jose Lezcano] for trainer Mike Maker, and Amo Racing USA’s stakes-placed Madame Mischief [post 6, Emisael Jaramillo] for trainer Jorge Delgado.
Amanda’s Folly is entered for the main track-only.
