Above and Beyond came thundering forward between horses in the drive for the wire to win the BGL&C/TOBA Yearling Sale Racing Series race #3, Restricted Stakes for native-bred three-year-olds.

The event was run over one mile (1,600 metres) at Caymanas Park on Saturday, March 7. Trained by the champion conditioner Anthony Nunes for owners Rawdon Persad, Vikram Oditt, and Rajendra Poonai, Above and Beyond was sent off as the 2/5 favourite in the field of five runners.

Above and Beyond, ridden by Dane Nelson, won the event by 6 1/2 lengths in a time of 1:39.3 with fractions of 23.4, 47.1, 1:11.2. Nipster at even money under Anthony Thomas finished second, with Denden ridden by Christopher Mamdeen occupying the third slot.

“I expected her to run well. Nonetheless, I did not expect her to run this well coming off of a four-month lay-off and during that time, I never tightened the screws on Above and Beyond.

“The owner asked me the night before this race how fit I thought the filly was for the race? My response to him was … ‘pretty near to 75 to 80 per cent’. For this reason, we were just hoping that she would get through this race and set us up for the Guineas trials with the big question being: ‘Am I going to run her in the Guineas trials?’

“Maybe, as I do not need to run her in the trials. Maybe I need to go straight to the 1000 Guineas, only time will tell.

“At this time, I cannot be happier as Above and Beyond sleeps well and eats well. It is a good feeling to know that you have such a quality horse under your care,” Nunes shared.