It’s been a long time since anyone has been able to say Be Your Best has been her best. After her effort in the Long Island Stakes (G3T), it might be fair to say her best came in the Nov. 10 race at Aqueduct Racetrack.
Front running from the start, the Muhaarar filly didn’t wilt under late pressure to win the $300,000, 1 3/8-mile inner turf challenge for fillies and mares 3 and up.
It has been a long journey back to the winner’s circle for Be Your Best, who last won in her second race, the P.G. Johnson Stakes more than two years ago at Saratoga Race Course. She wasn’t a lost cause however, as she came up just short several times.
She lost by a neck in the 2023 Wonder Again Stakes (G2T), then was a distant second in the Del Mar Oaks (G1T) two races later before falling short by 1 3/4 lengths in the American Oaks (G1T). Though she had been racing in graded company for 12 of her last 13 starts, the filly just hadn’t been able to put it all together.
Until Sunday.
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Jockey Frankie Dettori immediately moved the filly to the rail as they reached the first turn and was content with setting the pace and forcing the 10 rivals to chase them down.
“I was going the pace that I wanted to,” Dettori said. “She wasn’t going slow, but she wasn’t going flat out. She had a good rhythm, she was pricking her ears, and like I said, no one bothered me up front and when I stole those two lengths of the stretch, I was hard to catch.”
Favored No Show Sammy Jo , who spent most of the race toward the back of the field, made a feverish effort to try and steal the win from Be Your Best.
Jockey Flavien Prat was patient in waiting for his opportunity to develop rather than force the issue early on. They were nearly last entering the final turn but Prat’s sense of timing could not have been sharper.
Frankie Dettori jumps off of Be Your Best in the winner’s circle after taking the Long Island Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack
Swinging out seven wide as the field approached the upper stretch, No Show Sammy Jo exhibited impressive closing speed, closing the gap on Be Your Best. Had she had two more strides the outcome might have been different. The Lope de Vega filly was right there at the wire, but was beaten by a nose in a photo finish.
The final time was 2:14.36 in favor of the Saffie Joseph Jr. trainee. The Long Island was the second start for Be Your Best since joining Joseph’s barn.
“(Joseph) left it up to me. … They were telling me what a great form she was,” Dettori said. “I was able to dictate. Especially on the inner track, if you are able not to get taken on, then you are always very hard to catch. Flavien came off the pack and I wasn’t sure.”
Be Your Best posted fractional times of :24.23, :49.06, 1:14.65, 1:39.16, and 2:02.76. Immensitude and Avenue Niel finished third and fourth, respectively. Be Your Best paid $21.80 on a $2 win ticket.
Prat said an early misstep by No Show Sammy Jo made all the difference for his mount.
“She jumped well, but everyone went,” he explained. “Going into the first turn, I wasn’t quick enough, so I find myself a little further back than I wanted to be. Then after that she made a good move, but that’s it.”
Bred in Ireland by owner Michael Ryan’s St. Croix Bloodstock, Be Your Best improves to 1-0-1 from five starts and $194,109 in earnings this year and 3-3-2 from 16 starts and $538,359 in earnings lifetime.
Notes
- Dettori earned his first win in New York in the 1991 edition of the Long Island on the Luca Cumani-trained Shaima.
- Trainer Brendan Walsh had won the previous Long Islands. He did not have an entry Sunday. Graham Motion, whose No Show Sammy Jo finished second, has four wins in the race.
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