Le Bernardin returns to winner's circle in Pegasus

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Le Bernardin managed to grab control turning for home but had to dig deep to put away Good Morning Diva and hold a late rally from Easter Gift. In earning his first stakes victory, the dark bay son of Bernardini improved his scorecard to read 5-3-0-0 and has now banked $146,000 lifetime.

"He just kept running," Luzzi said. "I was having trouble with him early and I put him into the race on the outside so he wasn't getting dirt in his face. I really had to keep after him because he kept trying to lug in. It was surprising because he'd never done that in his races before, but he's only been out a handful of times. I was just trying to get him to focus and kept him on his task all the way to the wire."

Easter Gift had 1 1/4 lengths to spare on Good Morning Diva, who in turn was up 3 3/4 lengths on Innocent Man crossing under the line. Midnight Serenade followed while Speeding Again completed the order of finish after Unbridled's Way was pulled up in the stretch and vanned off.

"We'll definitely have to think about the (1 1/8-mile) Haskell after his race today," said Nick Zito, trainer of Easter Gift. "He handled two turns fine and came running at the end. I thought it was a very good race and something we can build off of."

Le Bernardin just opened his racing career this year, finishing fourth in his debut over Aqueduct's inner dirt in January. The sophomore was brought back two months later and this time posted a three-quarter length decision against maiden rivals. He stayed at the Big A when the venue switched to the main track meet and added an allowance win to his resume before fading to last in the Peter Pan most recently.

Bred in Kentucky by Mike G. Rutherford, Le Bernardin sold for $325,000 as a Saratoga Selected yearling. He is out of the Grade 2-winning Wild Again mare La Rosa, making him a half-brother to Grade 3 victress Taittinger Rose. La Rosa is herself a daughter of 1985 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies heroine Twilight Ridge and a half-sister to multiple stakes diva Daylight Ridge.

This female family is also responsible for Grade 1 winners Crested Wave and Sensitive Prince as well as Grade 2 vixen Wavy Waves.

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