Be Your Best certainly looks to be the best bet in a field of six fillies and mares in the $500,000 Beverly D. Stakes (G2) on Saturday at Colonial Downs’ Festival of Racing.
The 5-year-old mare bred in Ireland has won four of six starts since being moved to the barn of trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr., at the end of 2024. Last out, Be Your Best won the Gamely Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita on May 25.
“She’s got that high cruising speed out there that’s been very effective for her,” Joseph told drf.com this week. “Previous connections sometimes took her back, but we’ve found she’s most effective going like this.”
Beverly D. Odds
Be Your Best is the 9-5 favorite in the 1 3/16-mile Beverly D., with Duvet Day at 3-1, Charlene’s Dream at 7-2 and Beach Bomb 4-1. Spanish Eyes is 9-2 and Chick’s Shadow is 15-1.
Tyler Gaffalione rides Be Your Best for the first time, leaving from gate 2. The mare kicked off 2025 by winning the Pegasus World Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G2), edging Sacred Wish by a neck. In April, she faded in the stretch and ran eighth in the Jenny Wiley Stakes (G1) before her gate-to-wire win in the Gamely.
Be Your Best is the only runner in the field with a Grade 1 win.
Beach Bomb, bred in South Africa, was sent to H. Graham Motion late last year, and the 5-year-old mare is a win contender with Luis Saez in the irons leaving from gate 3. She has a resume of 15-6-5-1, and has finished first or second in her last four starts – wins in the Very One Stakes (G3) and the Orchid Stakes (G3), and runner-up in the Sheepshead Bay Stakes (G3) and the New York Stakes (G1) at Saratoga on June 6.
“She has really come around," Motion told bloodhorse.com. “She is extremely determined, yet is the kindest mare to train. She is very talented, and I give Luis Saez credit for that, because he has really figured her out.
“Beach Bomb is relatively small, but beautifully put together. The key to a distance horse is its ability to relax. They must have that in their disposition, or else they're going to be in trouble.”
Charlene’s Dream, a 4-year-olds filly trained by Ed Moger, Jr., has a Grade 3 win on her resume of 10-5-2-0 and is a tough sell at 7-2.
Duvet Day, trained by Michael McCarthy, will be making her 27 career start. Bred in Ireland, the 6-year-old mare is 0-for-2 in 2025, finishing second last out in the Anchorage at Churchill Downs on June 29. John Velazquez rides leaving from gate 6.
“She seems to be in the best form of her career, numbers-wise,” McCarthy said. “It’s a big ask to run in a prestigious race ... but it’s always nice to be able to participate in those kinds of races.”
The Beverly D. is race 10 with a post time of 5:17 p.m. ET. The race follows the $500,000 Secretariat Stakes (G2) for 3-year-olds and precedes the main attraction – the Arlington Million (G1) featuring 2024 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Mystik Dan racing on the turf for the first time.
Other races on the card include the $100,000 Petramalo Mile, a 1-mile dirt race for 3-year-olds; the $100,000 Tyson Gilpin at 7 furlongs on dirt for 3-year-old fillies; the $150,000 Van Clief for 3-year-olds & up at 5½ furlongs on turf; and the $150,000 Andy Guest for fillies 3-year-olds & up at 5 ½ furlongs on the turf.
1 Chick's Shadow (J E Lopez, A M Rodriguez), 15-1
2 Be Your Best (Tyler Gaffalione, Saffie Joseph, Jr.), 9-5
3 Beach Bomb (Luis Saez, H. Graham Motion), 4-1
4 Charlene's Dream (Javier Castellano, Ed Moger, Jr.), 7-2
5 Spanish Eyes (Ben Curtis, Brendan Walsh), 9-2
6 Duvet Day (John Velazquez, Michael McCarthy), 3-1
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
