Bodemeister filly gets first graded stakes victory in Del Mar’s Rancho Bernardo (G3)

Yuvetsi turned back odds-on favorite Anonymity at the top of the stretch en route to a 2 1/2-length victory in the Rancho Bernardo H. (G3) Sunday at Del Mar. 

The win was the first graded score for the 4-year-old Bodemeister filly, who won the Santa Lucia S. June 22 at Santa Anita Park. Bodemeister, a top-five Third Crop Sire by both stakes winners and winners, now has more than $3.4 million in progeny earnings this year.

With just four horses in Sunday’s 6 1/2-furlong contest, Yuvetsi was in a hotly contested battle for the lead through the first quarter-mile, which went in :22.08. Around the bend, it was Yuvetsi and Anonymity side by side, but by the time they hit the head of the stretch, Yuvetsi had asserted herself to secure the lead. Unrelenting in the lane, she coasted under the wire in 1:17.22.

“(Trainer) John (Sadler) said, ‘Just ride it as it comes up,’ ” winning rider Tyler Baze said. “And she came out of there so fast, I was right up front. Nobody seemed to really want to go to the front, so I just kept on going. I knew she wasn’t going to get tired; she’d had that mile race last out, so I knew she was plenty fit. Then she just went on with it and ground them all down.” 

Yuvetsi upped her record to 4-3-2 in 13 starts and has earned $239,930 for Hronis Racing LLC. Bred in Kentucky by Frankfort Park Farm, she is out of three-time stakes winner Mother Ruth.