The five-furlong event for two-year-old fillies has attracted a field of eight.
A Florida-bred daughter of Exchange Rate, Juliet's Spirit is one of two homebreds owned by Padua Stables and one of three fillies trained by Steven Asmussen competing in the open event.
The bay filly raced in fourth before commencing a strong rally late on the turn. She continued gamely through the stretch and was up in time to score by a neck.
"I had been on her. She worked really well," said jockey Jim McAleney. "She acted like a filly that had all kinds of class. She had been working nice enough to be excited about her. She brought her works to the race."
McAleney commended the Asmussen team for having Juliet's Spirit prepared for such a professional effort.
"She handled being off the pace a little bit," offered McAleney. "These horses come over ready for anything. They're behaved on post parade, they stand in the gate, they break sharp and they run their race."
The My Dear is slated for race eight on Monday's nine-race programme.
FIELD FOR MY DEAR STAKES
POST - HORSE - JOCKEY - TRAINER
1 - Striking Cheetah - Martin Ramirez - Nicholas Gonzalez
2 - A Day for Dancing - Patrick Husbands - Steven Asmussen
3 - Juliet's Spirit - Jim McAleney - Steven Asmussen
4 - My Sweet Natalie - Elvis Trujillo - Wesley Ward
5 - Georgia Song - Dave Clark - Josie Carroll
6 - Essence of Silver - Emile Ramsammy - Tony Mattine
7 - Royal Card - John Velazquez - Todd Pletcher
8 - Fanci Candi - Eurico Rosa da Silva - Steven Asmussen