SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The eighth-year trainer Cherie DeVaux never has won a graded stakes at Saratoga. She has come close, with 13 of 22 entrants finishing second or third. You’d think DeVaux’s never saddled a Saratoga graded stakes runner with a better chance than She Feels Pretty has in the $750,000 New York on Friday – except She Feels Pretty finished second as an odds-on favorite here last summer in the Lake Placid.
Not just the betting public but DeVaux herself felt She Feels Pretty never should have lost, and the defeat spurred DeVaux to try the filly in blinkers.
“That’s really made the change for her,” DeVaux said.
No lie. First-time blinkered She Feels Pretty ran a corker winning the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup by more than six lengths. She stretched from 1 1/8 miles there to 1 1/4 miles in the Grade 1 American Oaks at Santa Anita and won that easily. After a winter break, last month She Feels Pretty cruised home in the Grade 3 Modesty at Churchill, her first test against older horses. Three impressive victories in a row make her a short 3-5 morning-line favorite in the Grade 1 New York, which will be run at 1 3/16 miles on turf.
“That’s a little stressful,” DeVaux said.
There’d be more pressure if She Feels Pretty were stepping up in class, which she isn’t, or needed racing luck and pace help to boost her chances, which she doesn’t. The phrase “bomb proof” comes to mind.
She Feels Pretty and jockey John Velazquez have been getting great trips because She Feels Pretty makes her own trip, deploying tactical pace, a spicy turn of foot, and stamina to stay at least 1 1/4 miles. In the Modesty, she rolled up to the leaders before the quarter pole without being asked and passed them on her own courage. And while Velazquez went to the crop three times, he hardly needed to. She Feels Pretty won by 2 1/2 lengths. On the gallop-out, her lead grew so large the other horses vanished from the screen.
Worse news for the opposition: She might run better.
“I didn’t really have her cranked and ready to go,” DeVaux said.
Gimme a Nother, the Graham Motion-trained South African import, ran her race in the Modesty and – that day, at least – had no chance at the winner. Motion’s second entrant, Beach Bomb, has established herself as a sturdy Grade 3 performer in 11- and 12-furlong races.
Forever After All crushed rivals last out in the Bewitch at Keeneland. But she, like Beach Bomb, lacks Grade 1 credentials, wants more distance, and doesn’t appear to have much upside.
Immensitude has won zero of eight North American starts and finished behind Beach Bomb in her best recent race.
Miwa’s lone North American start, at Keeneland’s spring meet, came at a one-mile trip short of her best. But Miwa has no overseas performances suggesting she can contend, and she didn’t finish with real verve in April.
She Feels Pretty drew the outside post in an eight-horse field. With a decent break, she should get a great pressing trip behind Edict, a two-time Group 1 winner in Argentina late in 2023.
Imported to America by her breeder, John Behrendt, and turned over to trainer David Donk, Edict came close to making her American debut last summer at Saratoga before getting sick, Donk said. Donk felt he never had Edict quite right last year, which showed in two modest races, but following a winter break, Edict ran much better finishing a close second in the Beaugay, a 1 1/16-mile race that was shorter than she wants. In Argentina, Edict looked most comfortable when given free rein and allowed to lead, which ought to happen Friday, though Donk cautions the New York is a stepping-stone in what he hopes will be a long season.
Bellezza is the horse who might at least make She Feels Pretty break a sweat. Bellezza showed promise and solid development during her 3-year-old season in Ireland last year, finishing second about a year ago to the filly Hanalia, who in September won the Group 2 Blandford over Group 1 winner Wingspan. Bellezza’s eighth-place Blandford finish can be attributed to a failed one-race blinkers experiment, and she ended her Irish career with a smart all-weather track win.
Owner-breeder Moyglare Stud sent Bellezza to America, and she scored an eye-catching May 2 win over Beach Bomb in the Sheepshead Bay. The filly travels sweetly, relaxes beautifully, and has a good kick.
“If the race were farther, I’d be even more bullish. A mile and three-sixteenths maybe is on the short side,” said trainer Miguel Clement, who’s plenty bullish as it stands. “She’s very easy to train, she’s very easy to ride, and I do believe she’s actually better with cut in the ground, which might take place Friday.”
But She Feels Pretty ran to form 13 months ago over a sodden Pimlico course. The ever-changing prospect of Friday precipitation stood at about 50-50 as of midweek. There’s a better chance that the New York falls to She Feels Pretty, giving DeVaux her first Saratoga graded stakes.
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