OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Be Your Best, the nose winner of Sunday’s Grade 3 Long Island Stakes at Aqueduct, arrived in South Florida on Wednesday and will be considered for a start in the Grade 2, $500,000 Pegasus Filly and Mare Turf on Jan. 25 at Gulfstream Park, owner/breeder Mike Ryan said Wednesday.
After 12 tries in graded company, Be Your Best finally got her first graded stakes victory, holding off No Show Sammy Jo by a nose in the Long Island. Be Your Best, as a 2-year-old, won the ungraded P.G. Johnson Stakes at Saratoga.
“That nose was huge because we have her and the mother,” Kamakura, Ryan said. “
I’ll probably breed the mare back to Nyquist next year. She’s [currently] in foal to Cody’s Wish.”
Be Your Best won the Long Island in front-running fashion under Frankie Dettori, who recalled that his first victory in New York came in the 1991 Long Island Stakes.
Be Your Best was making her second start for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. after making her first 14 starts for Horacio De Paz.
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“Horacio did a great job with her,” Ryan said. “I’ve had a lot of luck with Saffie, he’s very, very capable. I think he’s an outstanding horsemen and obviously his results confirm that. I think he’s number five or six in the nation right now.”
Joseph ranks sixth in North America in purse money won with $15.3 million, and his 233 victories rank him third.
Last Friday at Aqueduct, Ryan and co-owner Niall Brennan and Joseph teamed to win the Grade 3 Pebbles Stakes with No Mo Candy, who is now 2 for 2 on turf. No Mo Candy traveled back to Florida with Be Your Best, and the 3-year-old daughter of Uncle Mo will be considered for the Grade 1 American Oaks on Dec. 26 at Santa Anita. That race is run at 1 1/4 miles.
“We were taking a chance the other day, she’s on an upward trajectory,” Ryan said. “She won her first turf race very nicely. Although she won on the synthetic, her action wasn’t the same. We were pretty confident she’d love the turf.”
Regarding the Pebbles, Ryan said, “We thought she could hit the board. I thought Johnny [Velazquez] gave her a great ride.”
Ryan said the fact that No Mo Candy won her maiden going 1 3/16 miles alleviates any concerns about her getting the 1 1/4 miles of the American Oaks.
Lee weighs options for Works for Me
Works for Me drew in from the also-eligible list and dead-heated for the win with Alogon in Saturday’s $150,000 Aqueduct Turf Sprint Championship. It was the first win on turf for Works for Me, who was third in the Carle Place Stakes in his race previous start.
Trainer Joe Lee said plans are not yet defined for Works for Me, who did win three races on dirt, including the Notebook Stakes at Aqueduct last November.
Lee said it’s possible Works for Me remains in New York for the winter and tries New York-bred company on dirt. It also is possible he could ship south, potentially to Fair Grounds in New Orleans, for a turf sprint stakes such as the $100,000 Richard Scherer Memorial Stakes on Dec. 21.
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