Colonial: Beverly D., Secretariat support Arlington Million

Grade 1 winner Be Your Best leads the 1 3/16 miles Grade 2 $500,000 Beverly D. at Colonial Downs on Saturday. Set to face five other older fillies and mares, the Saffie Joseph, Jr. charge was tabbed as the 9-5 morning line favorite. Her resume includes four graded-stakes titles and more than $1 million in lifetime earnings.

“We want firm ground, she needs fast turf,” Joseph said. “She's a much better horse on fast turf than if there’s any give in the ground. At Saratoga they’ve had a lot of rain so we decided not to run her there.” She had been cross-entered in Friday's Ballston Spa (G2), but was routed to Colonial Downs instead.

Click here for Colonial Downs entries and results.

Slated as race 10, between the one-mile Grade 2 $500,000 Secretariat Stakes for 3-year-olds and the 1 1/4-mile Arlington Million (G1), the Beverly D. is one of seven stakes carded with purse money totaling $2.5 million.

Trained by Horacio De Paz until August of 2024, Be Your Best flashed her talent as a juvenile, winning her first two starts, including the P.G. Johnson at Saratoga. Though she ran well and placed often against graded stakes company, Be Your Best went winless in her next 12 starts.

“I had watched the horse run her whole career,” Joseph said. “After she won her first two at Saratoga, she had some good races, but she just never broke through (and won). We were excited to have her join us, and she seems to have really turned a corner and found the winner’s circle.”

Since joining her new barn for owner Michael J. Ryan, the millionaire daughter of Muhaarar has won four of her six starts, all graded stakes. In her second start with Joseph, she kicked off her 5-year-old campaign with an impressive stalk and pounce score in the Pegasus World Cup Filly & Mare Turf Invitational (G2) at Gulfstream Park. In April’s Jenny Wiley (G1) at Keeneland, the Ireland-bred mare was in a great position in the far turn to contend down the stretch but came up empty and finished eighth.

“We had a lot of rain at Keeneland that week,” Joseph said. “I thought it dried out enough that we’d give it a go. And then that day, Irad (Ortiz Jr.) said that she was never in the bridle for him, so we said after that we're not going to run on soft ground again. And that's why we went to California because we knew we would get firm ground.”

Last out at Santa Anita Park, Be Your Best went gate-to-wire to win her first Grade 1 in the Gamely.

“We’ve been utilizing her tactical speed but she also stays well, so that's to her advantage. She’s got two weapons,” Joseph said.

Be Your Best is proven past the Beverly D. distance, scoring in the 1 3/8-mile Long Island (G3) at Aqueduct last November.

Last year’s Beverly D. winner, Moira went on to win the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf.

Be Your Best will be guided from post 2 by Tyler Gaffalione.

Dream On seeks 3rd straight stakes in Secretariat

Dream On will seek his third added-money title in a row on Saturday in the Grade 2 $500,000 Secretariat at Colonial Downs. Trained by dual Hall of Famer Mark Casse for D.J. Stable, Dream On will face a field of eight 3-year-old males as the 5-2 morning line favorite for the one-mile turf race.

The Secretariat is slated as race 9 on Saturday at Colonial Downs.

After a strong juvenile campaign, Dream On earned a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, where he led throughout but was swallowed up by closers in the final stages and finished fifth.

“In the fall, I thought he was our best shot to win in the Breeders’ Cup,” Casse said. “And he ran good. After that race, we gave him a little time. When he came back, he won an allowance race (at Gulfstream Park) and then he ran a real clunker at Tampa. I don't know why.”

Dream On’s 3-year-old campaign has been sensational, winning three of his four starts. After his fifth-place finish to Zulu Kingdom in the Columbia at Tampa Bay in March, the Not This Time colt rebounded in the Woodhaven at Aqueduct, gamely holding off Septarian’s late kick at the wire. Having vied for the lead or stalked in all his previous races, Dream On showed a new dimension in the Penn Mile (G3) at Penn National in June. Facing his frontrunning stablemate Mi Bago, Dream On was taken back to last, allowed to build his run, split foes at the top of the stretch, and offered a powerful late surge to win by a length over Cario Caper, who is also entered in the Secretariat.

Both stakes scores were over the turf and at the same distance as the Secretariat, and all three wins came with Javier Castellano in the irons.

“Now he's able to react to whatever the situation is,” Casse said.?”It’s made him a better horse.

I give Javier a lot of credit there. Javier knows him really well now because he’s rode him a few times.”

Casse shipped Dream On to New Kent after his graded stakes score, and since then he has put in three local drills, all bullets.

“As soon as the Penn Mile was over, (Colonial) was where we wanted to go with him,” Casse said. “He's one of those interesting horses who doesn't do it fancy. He just wins.”

For the past three years, Casse has had a strong presence on the Colonial Downs backside, winning at a 20% clip from 121 starts. In 2023 Casse and Castellano teamed up to win the Beverly D. with Fev Rover. Drawing to the outside in the field of eight, Dream On will be reunited with Castellano.