Wish Granted in Pebbles Handicap

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Edited from NYRA reports
Favored Betty's Wish, kept wide and out of trouble, gave jockey John Velazquez and most of the fans in the Columbus Day crowd of 7,186 the response they wanted Monday afternoon and drew off to win the $110,300 Pebbles Handicap (gr. IIIT) for 3-year fillies at nine furlongs on the "good" inner turf course.

With longshot Little Miss Pamela leading the field through fractions of :24 3/5; :49 1/5 and 1:14 4/5, Betty' Wish and Velazquez contented themselves with a three-wide trip before kicking in to win in 1:51. It was her fourth straight victory and she returned $3.60 as the post-time favorite.

"Bobby (Frankel, trainer) has brought her along real well," said winning owner Edmund A. Gann. "He hasn't tried to move her up too fast and the horse has developed, getting better each time. She'll go back to California with the rest of us."

The victory is the fifth in eight career starts for Betty's Wish, a Florida-bred daughter of Gold Case.

"I didn't want to make the front with her and I had to wrestle with her a little," Velazquez said. "Speed isn't holding on this course. Once I got her to settle, she was fine. Once you ask her to run, she's go instant acceleration. Bobby (Frankel) has done a real nice job of bringing her along."

Mystery Itself, at 28-1, was second, a length ahead of second choice Andover Lady. Harmonist, Where We Left Off, Boom Bah Ya and Little Miss Pamela trailed. Devotion Unbridled and Beauty On Duty, both entered for the main track only, were scratched.

(Chart, Equibase)

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