FAIRPLEX : The Winner Is Beyond Perfection

Beyond Perfection enhanced her Breeders’ Cup filly status with a convincing 3 1/4-length victory in the $150,000 Barretts Debutante Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs Wednesday at Fairplex Park.

Fresh from winning the Del Mar Debutante in stakes-record time, Beyond Perfection, the 1-5 favorite, paid $2.60 when she rallied from mid-pack to win handily over Ladies Don’t Lie in 1:17.

Pace-setting Mi Lucia was another 1 1/2 lengths back in third in the field of nine 2-year-old fillies.

Recording her third victory in four starts, Beyond Perfection remains atop a list of California’s 2-year-old thoroughbred fillies. Earning $82,500 Wednesday, Beyond Perfection increased her lifetime earnings to $305,950.

“This is a great horse,” jockey Julio Garcia said about the winner. “Jack (Van Berg) told me to go behind the speed. She had a little trouble the first part of the race. She is just too much horse.”

Appearing a little rank into the first turn, Beyond Perfection settled nicely once Garcia moved her to the outside near the three-eighths pole.

“I told Garcia not to get her too excited,” said Van Berg. “We’re going to run her in the Oak Leaf Stakes (Oct. 6 at Santa Anita) and providing everything goes OK, we’ll then go to the Breeders’ Cup (Oct. 27 at Belmont Park).”

Did Van Berg have any reservations about entering Beyond Perfection over the five-eighths mile oval?

“The owner (John Franks) told me if I was going to work her, I might as well run her,” Van Berg said. “A horse can get hurt on a mile track as much as on a five-eighths mile oval. Plus, this track is a great surface.”

Fairplex Notes

Three patrons correctly tabbed the Pick 6 Wednesday. The payoff was $29,005. . . . Julio Garcia, David Flores and apprentice Omar Berrio each rode two winners Wednesday. Garcia and Flores remain tied for first with 11 victories.

Running House, an impressive six-furlong maiden winner in 1:09 3/5, heads the field for today’s $150,000 Barretts Juvenile for 2-year-old colts and geldings. . . . Blowing Easy, the richest appaloosa of all time with earnings of $255,867, is entered in today’s second race. . . . Through Tuesday, the on-track attendance average of 9,943 was down 4.9% from 1989 figures. On-track mutuel handle average of $2,039,301 was down 7%.