Treasure Beach finishing season in style

A pair of solid winners at Tampa Bay Downs made for another super Saturday for Treasure Beach, as the stallion by Galileo reached two milestones. First, A Girls Bestfriend won the fourth race and became his sire’s 31st winner of 2018, then stakes-winner Decorated Ace captured the eighth race and vaulted Treasure Beach over the $1.3 million mark in progeny earnings with just two days left on the racing calendar.

A Girls Bestfriend was awarded victory in his second start after he set the pace for more than three-quarters in the mile and one-sixteenth grass race. While engaged in a tough stretch battle with Uncle Curly, his rival first came over and soundly bumped A Girls Bestfriend, then cut him off nearing the wire, and the gelding owned and bred by Endsley Farm lost all chance. The stewards studied the film for quite a while before disqualifying Uncle Curly, and A Girls Bestfriend earned $13,750 for the score.

Decorated Ace, winner of the Sorority at Monmouth Park earlier in the season, came from off the pace in the one-mile race on the turf and took the lead heading toward the wire. In a furious finish, she held on by a head to run her record to 2-1-1 in seven starts and her earnings to $79,250. The filly gave Joe and Helen Barbazon another breeders’ award, and the $13,750 winner’s check put Treasure Beach at $1,313,533 for the year, and more than $1.9 million for his first two crops.