Mike Ryan's Be Your Best (Ire) (Muhaarar {GB}) kicked off the graded stakes action on the holiday card at Santa Anita Monday with a wire-to-wire victory in the GI Gamely Stakes, giving trainer Saffie Joseph his first-ever win at the Arcadia oval. The Florida-based Joseph doubled up in the very next race when Skippylongstocking (Exaggerator) won the GII Hollywood Gold Cup.
Sent off at 2-1, Be Your Best bound out to the early lead and was under a snug hold from Irad Ortiz, setting fractions of :22.99 and :46.15 while tracked by favored No Show Sammy Jo (GB) (Lope de Vega {Ire}). Let loose by Ortiz entering the far turn, Be Your Best quickly opened a clear advantage while completing the three-quarters in 1:09.75. She sailed into the stretch well in front and was never seriously threatened as Lady Claypoole (Ire) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}) and Liguria (War Front) chased her home in vain.
Be Your Best completed the nine furlongs in 1:46.26, the fastest time posted in the Gamely since Lady Eli won in 1:45.29 in 2017.
“She is a very good filly and she showed it today,” Joseph said. “This is really big for us. We'll see what the future brings for her.”
With the scratches of Alpha Bella (Justify) and Where's My Ring (Twirling Candy), Ortiz expected to be on the lead with Be Your Best.
“When we had both scratches, they were both speed, so I talked to the trainer and he told me, 'Ride your race, let her be heard,” Ortiz said. “I let her relax and let her be happy. When I turned for home, I still had something in the tank.”
Be Your Best, tabbed a 'TDN Rising Star' following her debut score at Saratoga in July of 2022, was second in the 2023 GI Del Mar Oaks and GI American Oaks. She ended 2024 with wins in the Nov. 10 GIII Long Island Stakes and Dec. 21 GIII Suwannee River Stakes and opened 2025 the same way, capturing the Jan. 25 GII Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf Invitational. Her win streak was interrupted by an eighth-place effort over a good turf course in the Apr. 12 GI Jenny Wiley Stakes at Keeneland last time out.
“We knew she needed firm going on the turf and that is why we brought her out here,” Joseph said. “Her last race [in the Jenny Wiley] we got a lot of rain and she didn't like it.”
Pedigree Notes:
The unraced Kamakura has a yearling filly by Baaeed (GB) and was bred back to Cody's Wish last year. The mare, who was acquired by Mike Ryan's St Croix Bloodstock from Godolphin as a 3-year-old for 150,000gns at the 2016 Tattersalls July sale, is a half-sister to Grade I placed Fortify (Distorted Humor) and a full to graded-placed Bay of Plenty. Her 6-year-old daughter I'm Glad (Ire) (Kingman {GB}), in foal to Flameaway, sold for $75,000 at this year's Keeneland January sale.
Be Your Best's third dam is multiple Group 1 winner Flagbird, who produced the dam of Grade I winner Little Belle, who in turn produced Grade I winner Dickinson.
Be Your Best is the third top-level winner for her sire, Muhaarar (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}), who has also been represented by G1 Poule d'Essai des Poulains winner Marhaba Ya Sanafi (Ire) and G1 British Champions Fillies & Mares S. winner Eshaada (GB). The sire was a four-time Group 1 winner in 2015.
Monday, Santa Anita
GAMELY S.-GI, $301,000, Santa Anita, 5-26, 3yo/up, f/m, 1 1/8mT, 1:46.26, fm.
1–BE YOUR BEST (IRE), 124, 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' 1ST GRADE I WIN. O-Michael J Ryan; B-St Croix Bloodstock (IRE); T-Saffie A Joseph Jr; J-Irad Ortiz Jr. $180,000. Lifetime Record: 20-6-3-2, $1,086,559. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree or free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Lady Claypoole (Ire), 122, m, 5, by Starspangledbanner (Aus)
1st Dam: Short Affair (GB) (GSP-Ity, $103,334), by Singspiel (Ire)
2nd Dam: L'Affaire Monique (GB), by Machiavellian
3rd Dam: Much Too Risky (GB), by Bustino (GB)
1ST G1 BLACK-TYPE. (44,000gns Ylg '21 TADEY; $100,000 3yo '23 KEENOV). O-Abbondanza Racing LLC & Omar Aldabbagh; B-Aston House Stud (IRE); T-Richard Baltas. $60,000.
3–Liguria, 124, m, 5, by War Front
1st Dam: Lerici, by Woodman
2nd Dam: Balinese, by Nijinsky II
3rd Dam: Homespun, by Round Table
1ST G1 BLACK-TYPE. ($275,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-Alpha Delta Stables LLC; B-Tada Nobutaka (KY); T-Michael W McCarthy. $36,000.
Margins: 2 3/4, HF, 2HF. Odds: 2.10, 8.10, 9.50.
Also Ran: Expensive Queen (Ire), Public Assembly, No Show Sammy Jo (GB), Khinjani (GB). Scratched: Alpha Bella, Where's My Ring. Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
🔥 #8 BE YOUR BEST ($6.20) gives @SaffieJosephJr his first @SantaAnitaPark win with a dominant performance in the $300,000 Gamely Stakes (G1). The five-year-old Muhaarar mare was piloted by @iradortiz. pic.twitter.com/DZFUWZjO5j
— FanDuel Racing (@FanDuel_Racing) May 26, 2025
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