Big-Time Breakthrough for Include Betty in Mother Goose

Include Betty was much the best in the Mother Goose Stakes on Saturday at Belmont Park. (Photo courtesy of NYRA/Joe Labozetta)
Include Betty scored decisively with a powerful closing rally in the $300,000 Mother Goose Stakes on Saturday at Belmont Park to earn her first career Grade 1 win.
A lightning-fast pace early in the 1 1/16-mile race proved a nice setup for Include Betty, whose preferred running style is to utilize her explosive finishing speed for a sustained, late bid.
The chestnut Include filly raced at the back of the 10-horse field through an opening half-mile in :45.50. The speed horses ran out of gas near the top of the stretch while Include Betty was just finding her best stride under Drayden Van Dyke.
She surged to the front with a sweeping rally off the final turn and powered to a commanding lead in the stretch en route to a 3 ¼-length victory.
“It was a perfect trip. I know they were going fast up front and I knew this long stretch should really help her out,” Van Dyke said after Include Betty covered the distance in 1:44.68. “She makes that nice little last run and I knew it'd work out just perfect for her.”
Trained by Tom Proctor for owners Brereton C. Jones and Timothy C. Thornton, Include Betty improved to four wins from 10 starts and boosted her earnings to $543,030. She won the Suncoast Stakes in January at Tampa Bay Downs and the Grade 3 Fantasy Stakes in April at Oaklawn Park before finishing eighth in the Kentucky Oaks. Include Betty subsequently finished second on Preakness Stakes weekend in the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes before her breakthrough Grade 1 score in the Mother Goose.
Include Betty returned $12.80 for a $2 win bet as the fifth betting choice in the 10-horse field.
Wonder Gal, the 7-to-2 favorite, edged Chide by a nose for second with Pleasant Tales another 2 ¾ lengths back in fourth.
Bred in Kentucky, Include Betty is a half-sister (same dam [mother], different sire [father]) to Grade 1-placed winner Blonde Fog.
For Equibase charts, click here. 
INCLUDE BETTY AFTER WINNING MOTHER GOOSE

Photo courtesy of NYRA