diff --git a/pageserver/src/page_service.rs b/pageserver/src/page_service.rs
index 8ac1d19e7d..a3ab5d2c8e 100644
--- a/pageserver/src/page_service.rs
+++ b/pageserver/src/page_service.rs
@@ -730,7 +730,7 @@ impl Connection {
             // branch_create <branchname> <startpoint>
             // TODO lazy static
             // TOOD: escaping, to allow branch names with spaces
-            let re = Regex::new(r"^branch_create (\S+) (\S+)[\r\n\s]*;?$").unwrap();
+            let re = Regex::new(r"^branch_create (\S+) ([^\r\n\s;]+)[\r\n\s;]*;?$").unwrap();
             let caps = re.captures(&query_str).ok_or_else(err)?;
 
             let branchname: String = String::from(caps.get(1).ok_or_else(err)?.as_str());