The stalking 3-year-old Darley Stable owned colt, Le Bernardin, prevailed in a stretch duel with, Easter Gift, and had just enough to hold off his competitor to win the Grade 3, $103,000 Pegasus Stakes on 17 June, 2012, at Monmouth Park.

Trained by Kiaran McLaughlin, Le Bernardin posted his third victory in five career starts, as he was exiting from a disappointing unplaced finish in the Grade 2 Peter Pan Stakes at Belmont Park. He was defeated by Mark Valeski by a huge margin in 10^th.

Another starter from the Peter Pan Stakes was, Good Morning Diva, who finished fourth in the Peter Pan Stakes, and due to that effort, he was made the 11 to 10 favourite to win the race, but he couldn’t do so as Le Bernardin defeated him in third by 1 ¼ lengths.

Reunited with jockey Mike Luzzi, Le Bernardin was held back to come off the pace, but there was no one to pick the tempo in the Pegasus Stakes, which gave Le Bernardin all the time in the world to conserve his energy for a last burst.

Good Morning Diva rounded off the bend, and was fighting for the lead from the pace setter, Innocent Man, and at the same time, Le Bernardin, put his head in front turning into the homestretch on the outside.

In a quest to control the final sixteenth, Le Bernardin showed he had a bigger engine as he romped past his rivals, and then held off Easter Gift’s surging run to take the Pegasus Stakes, and wrapped up the 1 1/16 mile event in 1 minute and 44.51 seconds.

"I was having trouble with him early and I put him into the race on the outside so he wasn’t getting dirt in his face," Luzzi said. "I really had to keep after him because he kept trying to lug in. It was surprising because he’d never done that in his races before, but he’s only been out a handful of times. I was just trying to get him to focus and kept him on his task all the way to the wire.”