Flying her colors high on the Fourth of July, JOY flew home to win the $100,000 Perfect Sting Stakes in her Belmont Park debut. The 4-year-old chestnut Pure Prize filly bided her time while trailing early, worked her way around a loose horse and the rest of the field under Irad Ortiz Jr. and took off in the final sixteenth of the one-mile test to win going away by more than three lengths over yielding turf.

Bred and owned by Dark Hollow Farm and trained by Graham Motion, JOY recorded her second career stakes win, her first having come nearly a year earlier in the Christiana at Delaware Park. With four wins, a second and three thirds in 15 starts, the filly now has earnings of $180,810.

A member of the stellar family that includes Hall of Famer and Eclipse Award winner SAFELY KEPT, JOY is a third-generation Dark Hollow Farm-homebred, and the first foal for her dam Safe Journey, by Flatter. A winner at 2, 3 and 4 and now a multiple stakes winner, JOY has been truly been a joy.