American Pharoah Filly Much The Best in Busanda

Harvey’s Lil Goil (3f American Pharoah x Gloria S, by Tapit) gave her sire the perfect eighth birthday present on Sunday when she won the Busanda Stakes at Aqueduct to earn 10 points on the Kentucky Oaks trail.

Making her stakes debut at 1 1/8 miles on the dirt, Harvey’s Lil Goil broke a step slow and went wide into the clubhouse turn. Settling into stride, she was content to race second last outside the fairly packed field down the backstretch.

However, that all changed as the field entered the far turn and Harvey’s Lil Goil decided she’d had enough of the steady pace. She ran up to the leader in a matter of strides and took over the lead, opening a clear lead by the time they entered the stretch.

The gray filly gave jockey Junior Alvarado an easy time of it in the stretch, cruising away from the field to win by 7 ½ lengths.

"I would have liked to be second early on. I would have caught the corner the first turn," Alvarado said. "She outclassed the [field]. We've always been pretty high on her and she showed up. She's more advanced physically than mentally, but eventually she'll catch up with that and hopefully keep moving forward."

Trained by Bill Mott for the estate of her breeder Harvey Clarke and co-owner Paul Braverman, this is the second win in three starts for the filly after a December maiden victory.

Harvey’s Lil Goil’s family isn’t a stranger to top 3-year-olds with Gloria S. a half-sister to Champion 3-Year-Old I’ll Have Another and Grade III winner Golden Award. Harvey’s Lil Goil also hails from the extended family of four-time Champion Beholder and American Pharoah’s own Grade I-winning studmate Mendelssohn.

Tapit daughters bred to American Pharoah has been a successful cross, producing two of American Pharoah’s 14 stakes horses from the three runners bred on the cross.

Last year’s Champion Freshman Sire and a leading sire of 2-year-olds among all stallions, American Pharoah is the sire of 30 winners, including five stakes winners.