Grade 1 Winner Claret Beret Dies After Routine Work

Miller Racing's grade 1 winner Claret Beret, a 5-year-old daughter of Not This Time, died of an apparent cardiac event after a morning work at Palm Meadows Training Center, according to her trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. "Claret Beret unfortunately passed away at the barn," Joseph told BloodHorse by text. "She was an amazing filly who will always be remembered. May she rest in peace." The mare worked 4 furlongs in :49.55 at the training center in normal fashion. The work was her third at Palm Meadows since the biggest score of her career April 11 in the Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) at Oaklawn Park. She won the Apple Blossom by 4 1/2 lengths over Nitrogen, the champion 3-year-old filly of 2025. The Apple Blossom victory earned Claret Beret a spot in the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) through the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In. Claret Beret's Apple Blossom win made her Not This Time's 13th lifetime grade 1 winner and gave the mare her second consecutive victory in a graded stakes. She came into the Apple Blossom off a 5-length win in the Royal Delta Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream Park. Micah Husbands has been her regular rider since September. Miller Racing acquired the mare in the spring of 2025 and sent her to Joseph. She was previously owned by Danny Brown, Charis Brown, and Compton Racing and trained by Greg Compton, who had claimed her in October 2024 for $62,500 from Qatar Racing and trainer Brendan Walsh. In her first start for Joseph about a year ago, Claret Beret won a 1-mile handicap at Gulfstream Park by 19 3/4 lengths and then ran second to Vahva in the Chicago Stakes (G2) at Churchill Downs. This year alone, Claret Beret had two wins and a third from three starts and earned $784,940. Her career earnings are $1,115,834. Claret Beret was bred in Kentucky by Mitch Haynes out of the Medallist stakes winner Bessie M. She was highly regarded at the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale where agent David Redvers bought her for $375,000 out of the Hunter Valley Farm consignment. Claret Beret was Not This Time's second-highest-priced filly at the September sale that year.