From the beginning, trainer Patrick Reynolds and owner Paul Pompa, Jr. knew Backseat Rhythm was a turf horse. It was just a matter of time, and timing, as to when the daughter of El Corredor would get the chance to shine.

That chance finally came in Friday’s Grade 2, $150,000 Lake Placid for three-year-old fillies at Saratoga Race Course. Saving ground under jockey Javier Castellano, Backseat Rhythm swung widest of all turning for home and charged down the middle of the stretch for her first stakes victory.

The win was her third in 11 starts, with all three coming on turf.

“The filly she beat last year [on the turf] when she broke her maiden [Country Star] came back and registered two Grade 1 wins, so that’s a pretty good indication,” said Reynolds of Backseat Rhythm, who was the leading money-earner in the field of eight fillies due largely in part to her third-place finish behind Indian Blessing and Proud Spell in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Monmouth Park. “We were after the Breeders’ Cup because you don’t have $2 million races all the time. We put her back on the dirt and she ran two very respectable races …. She earned this. She earned this the hard way.”

With longshot Encanto Park taking the field through moderate fractions of 23.79, 49.21 and 1:12.90 over the yielding course, Castellano was content to let Backseat Rhythm race in seventh along the inside before making his move on the turn. Sweeping six wide, Backseat Rhythm dug down and got the lead inside the eighth pole before pulling away for a 3 ¼-length victory over the closing Rosa Grace.

Her winning time was 1:50.69 for the nine furlongs.

“I lost a lot of ground on the far turn but I thought it was the best way for her, letting her make one, big strong move,” said Castellano.

Raw Silk was third, followed by Namaste’s Wish, favored I Lost My Choo, Encanto Park, Zaskar, and Much Obliged.

“She was a little rank at the beginning of the race,” said Edgar Prado, aboard the beaten favorite. “When I cut her loose I guess she didn’t like the track.”

Backseat Rhythm, sent off at 6-1 by the crowd of 20,098, returned $14.40 for a $2 win bet and earned $90,000 to boost her earnings to $457,195.

“Being that far out of it and going ten-wide on the turn is never a good thing, neither is running into a slow pace,” said Reynolds. “But the good ones overcome everything. We’ll try to keep her going a mile and an eighth. The Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup [Grade 1, Keeneland, October 11] sounds very tempting.”