by Steve Bailey

Owner George Strawbridge was so happy following Forever Together's powerful 1 1/2-length victory in the $400,000 First Lady Stakes (G1) on Friday at Keeneland Race Course that he thought he might celebrate with an ice cold beer.

Not many owners would share a frothy brew with their horse. Strawbridge, however, said he just might.

"This horse just loves the taste of Guinness," a joyous Strawbridge said with a chuckle after his horse covered one mile on the Keeneland turf course in 1:35. "When she was a bit younger, she wouldn't eat her food so [trainer Jonathan Sheppard] began mixing it with Guinness.

"Wouldn't you know it, she started to eat like a champion and it's all been downhill from there."

The four-year-old gray or roan Belong to Me filly out of Constant Companion, by Relaunch, dispatched a talented field that included Grade 1 winners Precious Kitten, Dreaming of Anna, and Rutherienne with a tenacious finishing kick that left her jockey, Julien Leparoux, grinning from ear to ear.

"She's a very exciting filly," Leparoux said. "I knew when I asked her that she would take off, so when we got to the outside, I knew we were going to win it."

It appeared that Precious Kitten would go gate-to-wire as she broke sharply and took her seven challengers through a half-mile in :47.80 and six furlongs in 1:11.34.

Meanwhile, Forever Together took back in fifth under a patient Leparoux, which would have been nearly impossible earlier in her career.

"It took her the longest time to learn to relax and settle … almost forever, if you'll pardon the pun," Strawbridge said. "She was always really keyed up and it was a chore to try to get her to sit back behind the leaders, if you could get her to do it at all."

Although Forever Together was a Grade 2 winner on the dirt as a three-year-old, Sheppard thought she might benefit from a switch to the grass. The move paid immediate dividends as she won her turf debut in the Reluctant Guest Stakes on May 17 at Arlington Park by 1 1/4 lengths.

Following a third-place finish in the Just a Game Handicap (G1) on June 7 at Belmont Park, she rebounded with a three-quarter-length victory in the Diana Stakes (G1) on July 26 at Saratoga Race Course.

"She really took to the grass well, and that's when she really started to relax and show us how good she was," Sheppard said.

In the First Lady, Forever Together trailed Precious Kitten by 2 1/2 lengths in early stretch but, asked by Leparoux, she quickly began gobbling up ground and flew past her rival in the final 100 yards for the clear victory.

Precious Kitten, a multiple Grade 1 winner trained by Bobby Frankel for Roy and Gretchen Jackson's Lael Stables, gamely held for second, two lengths in front of multiple graded stakes winner Rutherienne.

Strawbridge said he likely would ship the filly to California for a start in the Emirates Airline Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1) on October 24 at the Oak Tree meeting at Santa Anita Park.

"After her performance today, I think I'd probably better," he said. "I'm hoping they'll have plenty of Guinness."

For an Equibase chart, click here.

Steve Bailey is deputy news editor of Thoroughbred Times