2026 Beverly D. Stakes Preview at Colonial Downs

Key Takeaways:

• The Beverly D. drew a deep 12-horse field, with several proven graded-stakes mares and enough pace to make race shape a major factor.
• Morning-line favorite Stellify has class, but her layoff and contested speed setup create opportunities for better betting value elsewhere.
• Gimme a Nother: Brings winning graded form, tactical speed, and should get an ideal stalking trip behind the expected pace battle.
• Pin Up Betty: Comes in off a confidence-boosting stakes win and looks well suited to improve again while stretching out for Mike Maker.
• Way to Be Marie: Consistent graded performer with versatile running style, giving her a chance to overcome the outside draw at an appealing price.

Turf-routing fillies and mares get the chance to shine Saturday, August 1 at Colonial Downs in the Grade 2, $500,000 Beverly D. Stakes. The 1 3/16-mile race drew a field of 12, aged three and up, ready to take a prominent position in what is currently a wide-open filly and mare grass division. All eyes are on Stellify, who makes her first start since the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf last fall, though she’ll have to face in-form foes including Gimme a Nother, Way to Be Marie, and Pin Up Betty.

The Beverly D. takes its name from Beverly Duchossois, the late wife of former Arlington owner Richard Duchossois. The race began in 1987, the fillies’ and mares’ complement to the Arlington Million. Like the Arlington Million, it has moved around a bit recently: after Arlington Park closed in 2021, the Beverly D. went to Churchill Downs in 2022, and then found a home at Colonial Downs starting in 2023.

A Grade 1 race between 1991 and 2023, the winners’ list is a who’s who of top female turf horses of recent decades, including Hatoof, Possibly Perfect, Stacelita, Dank, and Sistercharlie. And, even though the race was downgraded to a Grade 2 for 2024, the winner, Moira, went on to win the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf and take down an Eclipse Award for champion turf female.

2026 Beverly D. Stakes Information

• Race Date: Saturday, August 1
• Track: Colonial Downs
• Post Time: 5:03 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time
• Distance: 1 3/16 miles on the turf
• Age/Sex: three-year-olds and up, fillies and mares
• Where to Watch: FanDuel Racing
• Where to Bet: FanDuel Racing

Beverly D. Stakes Draw and Odds

This is the field for the 2026 Beverly D. Stakes, including post positions, trainers, jockeys, and morning-line odds for each runner.

Beverly D. Stakes Prep Race Results

The 12 runners in the Beverly D. come out of 11 different races. The only race with more than one last-out runner is the Anchorage, a listed race at 1 ⅛ miles on the Churchill Downs lawn June 27; the exacta from the Anchorage returns here. That day Pin Up Betty got the jump on Way to Be Marie, winning by two lengths.

Five runners were last seen in graded-stakes races. Two will have to bounce back from off-the-board finishes in Grade 1 company: Stellify has been on the bench since running seventh, five lengths behind Gezora, in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf last fall at Del Mar. Fast Market was a flat seventh, six lengths behind Classic Q, in the Just a Game (G1) at Saratoga on June 6.

Three others raced in Grade 3 company last out. Gimme a Nother, the only last-out graded winner in the field, stalked and pounced to take the Eatontown (G3) at Monmouth on June 13. Storm Miami set the pace but was just run down late in the Robert G. Dick (G3), a 1 ⅜-mile race at Delaware on June 13; she crossed the wire third, beaten a neck, but was disqualified to fourth for bumping a foe in the lane. Crevalle d’Oro has freshened up since finishing a late-running fourth in the one-mile Honey Fox (G3) at Gulfstream in February.

Two others come out of ungraded company. Haute Diva beat sophomores in the Martha Washington at 1 1/16 miles on the Gulfstream Tapeta on June 6 and faces older foes for the first time in this spot. Venencia cuts back from the 1 ½-mile Keertana at Churchill on May 23; she chased on for an even second behind Ayra Stark.

The other three horses in the race come out of allowance-optional claimers with second-level conditions. Achieve wired a one-mile race on the Colonial lawn on June 26, rattling off her third win in a row. Somethinabouther cleared her second-level condition June 25 at Churchill, though the 1 ⅛-mile race was washed from the grass to a sloppy dirt track. Daisy Flyer finished a belated third in a turf mile at Ellis on July 5.

Beverly D. Stakes Contenders

This is a closer look at the horses in the 2026 Beverly D. Stakes, from the rail out.

1. Venencia: Saffie Joseph, Jr. is strong with his shippers, and his visits to Colonial have been fruitful so far, with three wins and a second in nine starts. However, Venencia is in tough here. She tends to be better going longer than this 1 3/16-mile trip, and the rail draw in a field of 12 could be a recipe for serious trip trouble.
2. Daisy Flyer: With only two starts so far during her four-year-old year, it’s still a bit difficult to tell what this Rusty Arnold trainee is right now, especially against older horses. She improved last out in her second start, but now she takes a class rise and stretches way out. She is a Grade 3 winner, and this isn’t a very deep Grade 2 despite the field size, but she still needs to remember how to win, and she needs to prove she can find her best going longer than 1 1/16 miles.
3. Somethinabouther: She showed good tactical speed in her last-out win – though that came in the slop, she has plenty of form on the grass as well, including a couple of graded-stakes placings. She is versatile enough to run well from near the front or from coming further off, and hopefully that tilt in the slop last out means she has remembered how to win.
4. Haute Diva: This race is open to fillies and mares aged three and up. It isn’t unprecedented for a three-year-old to win the Beverly D. – it’s been done twice, by Euro Charline and Santa Barbara. However, both of those runners were more class-proven European raiders, and both had faced older mares already. Haute Diva hasn’t. Her class is also a question: she has won a couple of ungraded races against her own age group, but none of those were on grass.
5. Crevalle d’Oro: She has freshened up since finishing a belated fourth in the Honey Fox (G3) back in February. That was a regression from her previous starts, but her win in the Suwanee River three back and her second in the Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G2) were both very good efforts that would put her right in the mix here. The question is whether she can run back to that elsewhere – she has some solid races at other tracks like Kentucky Downs and Woodbine, though her best has come over the quirky Gulfstream course. However, she’ll be a price, and she has shown nice pace versatility, making her an interesting horse to sprinkle underneath.
6. Achieve: This Mark Casse trainee didn’t graduate in five starts at ages two and three, but she’s a new horse at age four. She broke her maiden in April at Gulfstream after almost a year on the shelf, and has fired off first- and second-level allowance scores in her next two starts. The distance is a question, but her pedigree supports the stretch out – and she has the speed to send to the front and dare the rest of the horses to catch her. She’ll need a step forward to win this, but the pace is in her hands, and unlike so many of the known quantities in this field, she still has an unexposed ceiling.
7. Pin Up Betty: A reliable face in races about this level, this five-year-old millionaire was struggling to get back into the win column earlier this year before getting a confidence-builder in the Anchorage last out. She looked as sharp as ever in that outing, showing exactly the kind of form that would make her a win candidate here. She has been able to string together strong efforts once she gets into top form, and she is tactical enough to stay out of a pace battle but not have to drop back all the way to the clouds. The distance is a question, but it would be no surprise to see her be able to handle it based on her pedigree, and she looks well spotted at a square price.
8. Stellify: This lightly-raced five-year-old didn’t debut until last year, but looked like a rising star through the summer and fall. She had a nightmare trip in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf – a race that would possibly have been a toss anyway because it’s such a tougher group than this, but especially because of the trouble. However, she has never been able to do her best work against good horses without getting the early lead. That’s a concern – Achieve, to her inside, is going to hit the gas. So is Storm Miami to her outside. Stellify has clear speed going longer than this, but with several horses who may challenge or even outgun her early, she has underlay written all over her.
9. Gimme a Nother: She was coming close in American graded-stakes race as soon as she moved here from South Africa, but now she has taken the next step and become a proven winner here. She ended 2025 with a Grade 2 win at Del Mar, shook off the rust with a comfy-cozy Grade 3 win in June at Delaware, and now she’s ready to step back up. She can show sharp early speed, but it’s tactical, and she can even run a good race from midfield if need be. Her one previous try at the distance is a toss – that was over yielding ground, but she’ll get better footing here. All in all, the Graham Motion trainee looks like the horse to beat, and she likely won’t even be the betting favorite.
10. Storm Miami: A new face at the graded-stakes level, she led most of the way in both the Sheepshead Bay (G3) at Aqueduct and the Dick Memorial (G3) at Delaware this spring. She was allowed to set comfortable paces both times before getting caught late. The good news for her is that she is drawn outside other speed and can still run a good race from a pressing spot. On the other hand, this is a cut back in trip from those last two races, both at 1 ⅜ miles, and she’ll probably have to go faster early in order to get anything like the trip she got in her last two. For a horse who needs a career best, that will be tough.
11. Fast Market: She has tried Grade 1 company higher last two starts and gets a notable class drop for this race. She has shown some form in Grade 2 and Grade 3 company in shorter races, and she is versatile enough to track a few lengths from the pace or settle further back. Distance is the question – she has never gone past 1 ⅛ miles, though she ran a good second in her one try at that distance, suggesting that she has some upside trying something longer again. However, based on her form so far, she will need a career best to win this – filling out a trifecta or superfecta on her best day appears to be her ceiling.
12. Way to Be Marie: She has yet to break through at the graded-stakes level, but she has hit the board on multiple occasions, and she keeps getting pieces against the horses she faces in this spot. The far-outside gate could be a recipe for ground loss, but her pace-versatile nature allays that concern somewhat by giving jockey Javier Castellano options for where to drop her in. It’s her first time trying 1 3/16 miles, but she has done well enough at distances both longer and shorter than this to suggest she’ll be fine, and she is consistent enough to be in the picture here.

Beverly D. Stakes: 3 Best Bets

These are the three best bets in the 2026 Beverly D. Stakes:

1. Gimme a Nother (9-2)

Gimme a Nother has gotten her bearings since moving to the United States from South Africa. It took the Graham Motion trainee a few starts to rediscover her winning ways, but she put it together in the Mabee (G2) last year and then began this season with a confidence-building win in the Eatontown (G3) at Monmouth in June. She now has the tactical speed that she didn’t show in her first couple of American starts, and that should help her get just the right trip behind the speed here.

The one question she has to answer is the distance. However, she looked great going 1 ⅛ miles two back, and even though she was off the board at this distance in the New York (G1) last year, not only was she going against a tougher field but she had to handle significantly rain-affected ground. Now she gets her firmer going, she gets John Velazquez in the irons, and she looks like the horse to beat – and the horse to bet, since likely underlaid favorite Stellify is one-way speed who will have company up front.

2. Pin Up Betty (8-1)

Though she comes out of a win in an ungraded stakes, she won it with confidence over Way to Be Marie, a horse with graded-level form who also has a shot in this spot. Pin Up Betty finished with enough verve to be interesting on the stretch out to this 1 3/16-mile distance – not to mention the fact that she is trained by Mike Maker, who has made a career of knowing which older horses are going to like stretching out, and winning big long-distance turf races with them.

Maker also knows how to keep a horse in form once they get good. Pin Up Betty went through a spate of good races in the spring and summer for Maker last year, and if he can keep her sharp again after that return to form in the Anchorage last out, she can run another one of her better efforts here, a race that should have her making a sharp stretch run at the right price.

3. Way to Be Marie (6-1)

Way to Be Marie is still looking for her first graded-stakes win, but she has run well at the level on multiple occasions – she is a consistent mare whose normal day at the office is competitive at this level. In a race with a large field, but so many horses who are either taking a shot or may not get the best of it from a pace or distance perspective, this makes Way to Be Marie worth a long look.

She is trying something new in this spot: she has never tried this distance before. However, she is a multiple stakes winner at 1 1/16 miles, and has also been multiple graded-stakes placed going longer than this – meaning there is a chance she may just find her happy medium at a distance like this.

Perhaps the biggest concern is the post position, as she drew the parking lot, far outside in a field of 12. However, she is versatile enough that Javier Castellano has options for where to drop her, meaning she should be able to work a good trip despite the challenging post position.

Beverly D. Stakes FAQ

Q: When and where is the Beverly D. Stakes?

A: The Beverly D. Stakes will be run Saturday, August 1, at Colonial Downs in New Kent, Virginia. It is the 10th of 12 races on the card, with post scheduled for 5:03 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time.

Q: Which trainer has the most wins in the Beverly D. Stakes?

A: Chad Brown has the most Beverly D. Stakes wins of any trainer, with six between 2011 and 2019, all at Arlington Park. Brown does not have a horse entered in 2026. Among trainers with a runner in 2026, Patrick Biancone leads with two winners. He won with Angara in 2005 and Gorella in 2006 and can win for a third time with Haute Diva this year.

Q: Who is the favorite for the Beverly D. Stakes?

A: Stellify, for trainer Brad Cox, is the 3-1 morning-line favorite in her seasonal debut. She has not run since finishing seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Filly& Mare Turf last year, but fired off four straight front-running wins before that outing. Betting action on her could suggest she is ready off the layoff, though watch for action on others including Gimme a Nother, who has won two straight graded stakes for Graham Motion.

Q: Who is the best Beverly D. Stakes jockey?

A: Kent Desormeaux and Ryan Moore have been the winning jockey in the Beverly D. Stakes three times each. However, neither rides the race this year. Among the riders with horses in 2026, both John Velazquez and Javier Castellano can tie their mark. Castellano won in 2023 with Fev Rover and 2025 with Charlene’s Dream, and rides Way to Be Marie this year. Velazquez won with Sistercharlie in both 2018 and 2019 at Arlington and takes the call on Gimme a Nother this time.

Q: Who won the Beverly D. Stakes in 2025?

A: Charlene’s Dream won the 2025 Beverly D. for trainer Ed Moger, Jr. and jockey Javier Castellano. Moger does not have a horse in 2026, but Castellano rides Way to Be Marie for Eddie Kenneally this year.

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The above author is a FanDuel employee and is not eligible to compete in public daily fantasy contests or place sports betting wagers on FanDuel. The advice provided by the author does not necessarily represent the views of FanDuel. Taking the author's advice will not guarantee a successful outcome. You should use your own judgment when participating in daily fantasy contests or placing sports wagers.