SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A little drop in class and a turnback in distance should make She Feels Pretty the one to beat in a wide-open field of 3-year-old fillies entered to contest the $200,000 Lake Placid Stakes on Saturday at Saratoga. The Grade 2 Lake Placid will be decided at 1 1/16 miles over the inner turf course.
The well-traveled She Feels Pretty has kept a pretty steady diet of Grade 1 company since winning her maiden at first asking for trainer Cherie DeVaux last summer at Ellis Park. She closed her abbreviated 2-year-old campaign winning the Natalma at Woodbine by 4 1/2 lengths and finishing a narrowly beaten third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf. After opening her 3-year-old season with an easy victory in the ungraded Hilltop at Pimlico, she returned against Grade 1 competition to finish a game third, just three-quarters of a length behind Cinderella’s Dream, trying to stretch to 1 3/16 miles for the first time in the Belmont Oaks Invitational last month at Aqueduct. The winner flattered the race with her victory in the Grade 2 Saratoga Oaks here four weeks later.
“She’s a filly that has shown up every time she runs, so you can’t really get too upset even though she lost a close one last time,” DeVaux said. “We were taking a chance to see if she could handle that distance, and it just wasn’t in her wheelhouse, but it gave us an opportunity to learn and move forward. She is still lightly raced and got a little green hooking up with Segesta down the stretch that day. It seems when she winds up in a battle she still gets a little unfocused.”
Although She Feels Pretty drops into a Grade 2 race for the first time, DeVaux knows her filly is facing another formidable task Saturday.
“It’s a Grade 2, but it’s quite a competitive field, which is kind of par for the course when you come to Saratoga to run in this kind of a race,” DeVaux said. “Our goal with her has always been the Queen Elizabeth, so you’re going to have to run against the best if you think you can be the best. But her condition is great and she keeps improving every time she runs, so I’m very confident in her and really looking forward to seeing how she does on Saturday.”
The Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup will be run Oct. 12 at Keeneland.
She Feels Pretty was one of two fillies DeVaux entered and intended to run in the Lake Placid, although she said Thursday that Deep Satin is currently ill and not likely to run.
Trainer Chad Brown has won five of the last six editions of the Lake Placid, including the three most recent renewals. He has entered a trio of fillies – Grayosh, Spaliday, and Dynamic Pricing – looking to extend that streak. All three of his fillies will likely need a little pace help, considering their similar late-running styles.
Grayosh was beaten a nose by Proctor Street after rallying from far back to take the lead in early stretch of a first-level allowance here July 18 while earning a career-best 85 Beyer for the effort. She had finished an even fourth in the Grade 2 Wonder Again in her previous try.
Spaliday shipped to Monmouth Park and added blinkers to win the Boiling Springs in her stakes debut July 13. Dynamic Pricing, like She Feels Pretty, drops out of the Belmont Oaks after finishing a nonthreatening seventh although only defeated five lengths following an awkward start in her Grade 1 debut.
A couple of fillies making their first starts in North America, Les Reys and Beautiful Love, will add an international flavor to the race. Les Reys will try to give trainer Christophe Clement his fourth Lake Placid victory and has shipped here from Europe off a pair of victories at Longchamp. Beautiful Love has a win and a second in her only two starts in 2024, both those races coming at Meydan, where she was second best to the imposing Cinderella’s Dream launching her 3-year-old campaign in February.
Proctor Street, perfect in two starts and taking a big step up in class off that recent allowance win over Grayosh, Gala Brand, De Regreso, and Ori complete the field on turf. Lemon Muffin, Manama Gold, and Camera were entered for the main track only.
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