By Christina Bossinakis
Hallandale, FL-After rounding out the 2024 season with a pair of graded victories, Mike Ryan's 'TDN Rising Star' Be Your Best (Ire) (Muhaarar {GB}) picked up right where she had left off last season, winning Saturday's GII Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf Invitational at Gulfstream Park.
Given a 7-1 chance to record her third straight victory, and only the fourth of her career, the 5-year-old showed a good turn of foot in the early going of the 8 1/2-furlong test, keeping leader and stablemate In Our Time (Not This Time) in her sights with the favorite wrestling Frankie Dettori down on the inside while fourth through a crisp :22.88 quarter. Continuing to survey the pace through a :46.81 half, the Saffie Joseph Jr.-trainee started to pick up the tempo and put pressure on the pacesetter leaving the far turn.
Set down for the stretch drive by Edgard Zayas, the Irish-bred mare overtook her rival midstretch, inched clear, and had enough left to hold off the oncoming rush of Sacred Wish (Not This Time) by a neck at the wire. In Our Time was third with Pounce rounding out the Superfecta. Favored Raqiya held fifth.
“It set up perfect,” said Zayas. “Once [In Our Time] got in, I knew she was the speed of the speed. The plan was to get covered up behind her and it worked out perfect. She has a lot of stamina. The pace was quick, but they've been going quick all day. The track is pretty fast and they keep on going. At the end, she never quit, she kept on steady, steady, steady.”
GI Matriarch winner Sacred Wish closed by leaps and bounds but couldn't quite wear down the winner.
When I got to the quarter pole, I said, 'I've got to be superman to get there.”
“[In Our Time] ran big,” said Joseph Jr. It was a very big effort. Big step up in class. It was a true-run race. They were on the lead but they weren't getting easy fractions. Be Your Best was keeping her honest. I was proud of her effort. For her to pick up a Grade II-placing was huge.”
Best Your Best, runner-up for trainer Horacio DePaz in the GI Del Mar Oaks and GI American Oaks in 2023, kicked off her 4-year-old season with a fourth in the mile GII Buena Vista at Santa Anita in March before coming home 13th in the 1 3/16th-mile New York Stakes at the Spa in June. Third in in an 11-furlong optional claiming allowance upstate Aug. 8, she finished sixth in her first start for Joseph Jr. in the Oct. 5 GII Rodeo Drive over 10 furlongs.
Of his charge's third career graded win, Joseph Jr. added, “I didn't think she wants to go that far. I thought she wanted to cut back. But he was right, because we won. So I give him full credit. I said, 'Mike [Ryan], you were right.' The mile last time was probably a cut back a little too short, because you don't know, that's a big drastic cut back. When she won there, you always felt confident going a mile and a sixteenth. She's got so much speed in the morning, you think that this shouldn't be a problem. I think this is probably her best, from mile and a sixteenth to a mile and a quarter.”
Pedigree Note:
Bred in Ireland by St Croix Bloodstock, Be Your Best is out of Kamakura, a full-sister to SW and GSP Bay of Plenty in addition to Grade I placed Fortify (Distorted Humor). Third dam is the prolific champion Flagbird, a half-sister to GISWs Prospector's Delight and Runup the Colors.
Since Be Your Best, the winner's unraced dam produced a colt by Too Darn Hot (GB), named Postmodern {Ire}), in 2023 and followed up with a filyl by Baaeed (GB) last season. She was bred back to champion sprinter Cody's Wish.
This family also represents GISWs Little Belle, Dickinson and Horse of the Year Mineshaft.-CBoss
#3 BE YOUR BEST ($16.80) got to the lead in the stretch and held off a fast closing #10 Sacred Wish to win the $500,000 @TBAftercare Pegasus World Cup F&M Turf Invitational (G2) at @Gulfstream Park. @zayas_edgardo was up for @SaffieJosephJr. pic.twitter.com/uxPWvV5QHN
— FanDuel Racing (@FanDuel_Racing) January 25, 2025
Saturday, Gulfstream
TAA PEGASUS WORLD CUP FILLY AND MARE TURF INVITATIONAL S. PRESENTED BY SIRDAVIS AMERICAN WHISKY-GII, $490,880, Gulfstream, 1-25, 4yo/up, f/m, 1 1/16mT, 1:39.06, fm.
1–BE YOUR BEST (IRE), 120, m, 5, by Muhaarar (GB)
1st Dam: Kamakura, by Medaglia d'Oro
2nd Dam: Kotuku (GB), by A.P. Indy
3rd Dam: Flagbird, by Nureyev
'TDN Rising Star'. O-Michael J. Ryan; B-St. Croix Bloodstock
(IRE); T-Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.; J-Edgard J. Zayas. $273,600.
Lifetime Record: MGISP, 18-5-3-2, $900,309. Werk Nick
Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Sacred Wish, 123, m, 5, Not This Time–Indian Wish, by Indian
Charlie. ($80,000 Wlg '20 KEENOV; $70,000 RNA Ylg '21
KEESEP; $50,000 2yo '22 EASMAY). O-Black Type
Thoroughbreds, Swinbank Stables, Steve Adkisson, Christopher
Dunn and Anthony Spinazzola; B-John R. Penn (KY);
T-George Weaver. $101,200.
3–In Our Time, 118, f, 4, Not This Time–Laura's Pleasure,
by Cactus Ridge. 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($325,000 Ylg '22
KEESEP; $9,000 RNA 3yo '24 KEEJAN). O-Resolute Racing and
Miller Racing, LLC; B-Brian Kahn (KY); T-Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.
$45,600.
Margins: NK, 1HF, 2HF. Odds: 7.40, 3.70, 7.80.
Also Ran: Pounce, Raqiya (Ire), Bless My Stars (Saf), Papilio (Ire), Minoushka (GB), Watchtower, Dona Clota (Chi), De Regreso. Scratched: Fluffy Socks, Ocean Club, See You Around (Ire).
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
