She Feels Pretty has looked terrific throughout her career, taking seven of 10 grass races, all but one a stakes. She’s never been out of the money and brings a four-race winning streak, all Grade 1s, into Saturday’s $500,000 Diana Stakes (G1) at Saratoga.
The 4-year-old daughter of 2014 Breeders’ Cup Mile hero Karakontie will be heavily favored for the seventh straight time. She’s 1-1 on the morning line at the “Graveyard of Favorites,” where so many stars fall. Odds-on Nitrogen was the latest, and She Feels Pretty faces three Grade 1 winners in a deep, talented field.
The horse to beat showed her class last time out in the New York Stakes (G1) at Saratoga, surging late to score by a half-length on yielding turf. “She was not liking [the ground] at all,” rider John Velazquez said. “She is just that good that she overcame that.”
To trainer Cherie DeVaux, “She’s a real pro. She’s proven at the [1 1/8-mile] distance, so hopefully we can keep the winning streak going.”
For those who bet on horse racing, here are some insights:
Lady Claypoole (20-1) is the only automatic throw-out in the field of six. Her career best is a Grade 3 victory in California, and she’s 4-for-19, mostly against claimers.
Choisya (8-1), Be Your Best (6-1), and Dynamic Pricing (9-2) all have a Grade 1 victory and deserve respect. Choisya’s career top was a narrow victory over Cinderella’s Dream this winter in Dubai. That was a shocker because Cinderella’s Dream is a multiple-stakes winner who defeated She Feels Pretty last summer at Aqueduct.
Be Your Best, Diana’s main speed, went wire to wire last time in the Gamely (G1) at Santa Anita. The distant runner-up was Lady Claypoole in a subpar field, so it was a Grade 1 in name only. Neither class is up with She Feels Pretty, and Dynamic Pricing falls short there, too.
Trainer Chad Brown admitted Dynamic Pricing was aided by a yielding Saratoga course in the Just A Game (G1), in which she held off his other Diana entry, Excellent Truth, by three-quarters of a length. Although that 5-year-old mare is 0-for-4 in Grade 1 and Group 1, she could be the main threat to She Feels Pretty.
Excellent Truth (5-2) was a close second as the favorite in her two U.S. starts since being imported from France, where last summer she was runner-up to seven-time stakes winner Mqse de Sevigne in the prestigious Prix Rothschild (G1) at Deauville.
Brown, longtime king of the Saratoga turf, owns the Diana Stakes, winning it nine times, including eight of the last nine years. He’s upbeat about Excellent Truth’s chances.
“I’ve been running her shorter because that’s where the races were,” he told drf.com. “She’s definitely built to be at her best at a mile and an eighth.”
Excellent Truth was third in a Group 3 going 9 furlongs and won at 1¼ miles. She has four career wins and was in the exacta in nine of 13 starts. Time to find out whether she’s a teaser or is poised to take a step forward.
“In both of her starts for me, she’s been unlucky,” Brown said. “At Keeneland, she had a rough trip in the stretch, and I’d say she’s due for a cleaner trip this time around. At least, I hope so.”
DeVaux spent nearly eight years as an assistant to Brown. Her name in French means “from the valleys,” and in seven years on her own, she’s reached the mountaintop. Can the mentor upset the student?
