And One More Time gives Omaha Beach first Grade 1 winner in Natalma S. (G1)

And One More Time rallied gamely between horses to win Saturday’s $500,000 Natalma S. (G1) at Woodbine to become the first Grade 1 winner for Omaha Beach.

The 2-year-old filly is the latest of seven stakes winners this year for Omaha Beach, who also has 14 black type horses, three Grade 1 horses and $5.4 million in progeny earnings to top the Second-Crop sire list.

And One More Time had broken her maiden in a 5 ½-furlong off-the-turf affair Aug. 8 at Saratoga, then moved back to the grass for the one-mile Natalma, a ‘Win and You’re In’ qualifier for the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1).

An alert break put And One More Time in the mix right away as she tracked Nitrogen in second for the first six furlongs. Into the stretch, Nitrogen began to race greenly as And One More Time and Vixen, a daughter of Vekoma, closed in on the leader. Vixen got the lead inside the final sixteenth, but And One More Time battled back very gamely to win by a neck.

“You know, when I asked her down the lane, she didn’t care where she was,” said winning rider Rafael Hernandez. “She just does her job, and you don’t get intimidated.”

And One More Time has won two of her three starts and earned $276,300 for owner Live Oak Plantation, who purchased the dark bay for $750,000 out of the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling sale.

And One More Time was bred by William Harrigan and Mike Pietrangelo and is a half-sister to graded stakes winners Simply in Front and Honor D Lady, as well as stakes winner Churchtown.