SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – When trainer Cherie DeVaux looks at the past performances of She Feels Pretty, this is among her first thoughts.
“I think I should have put blinkers on her before,” DeVaux said.
She Feels Pretty was good without blinkers, winning three of six starts. She’s been better with them, winning all four of her starts including three Grade 1 events. Saturday, She Feels Pretty goes for her fifth consecutive win and her fifth career Grade 1 success when she heads a six-horse field entered in the $500,000 Diana Stakes at Saratoga.
She Feels Pretty is basically 1 1/4 lengths from being a perfect 10 for 10. The blinkers have helped her finish her races more powerfully, something she did in last month’s Grade 1 New York even when she didn’t particularly like the yielding ground on which the race was run.
A daughter of Karakontie, She Feels Pretty has won her seven races at six different distances. She is 2 for 2 at 1 1/8 miles, though if DeVaux had her pick of what distance to run at she would choose a mile and a quarter.
“That gives her time to settle and come with a run,” DeVaux said. “It’s in my head that we got 1 3/8 miles with the Breeders’ Cup and that’s the unknown right there.”
DeVaux is hoping to use Saratoga to get to the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar. The Diana is expected to be followed by the Grade 2, $500,000 Flower Bowl, at 1 3/8 miles, here on Aug. 30.
Saturday, She Feels Pretty breaks from the rail under John Velazquez. It will the first time she starts from the rail.
“I think Johnny can work a trip out, it’s a tough field, but she’s in good form, been training well, looks fantastic all the trainer talk you want to hear,” she said.
Chad Brown has won eight of the last nine runnings of the Diana and nine overall. In the last 15 years, Brown has a record of 9-5-10 from 39 starters in this race. Saturday, he sends out the duo of Dynamic Pricing and Excellent Truth, either one capable of beating See Feels Pretty.
Dynamic Pricing went 1 for 6 as a 3-year-old, but she’s come back a different horse in 2025. She won the Grade 3 Beaugay going 1 1/16 miles at Aqueduct in May then came back to win the Grade 1 Just a Game here going a mile here on June 6.
“The more I observe her training this filly’s definitely changed a bit,” Brown said. “She definitely appreciates some pace and that lends itself more to a mile, but she won nicely at a mile and a sixteenth already.”
The 1 1/8 miles may be exactly what Excellent Truth wants. She was beaten a half-length while arguably being interfered with by Choisya in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley at 1 1/16 miles in April. She fell three-quarters of a length short to Dynamic Pricing in the Just a Game.
“I think she wants to run a mile and an eighth,” Brown said. “She doesn’t have an amazing turn of foot, but she’s very strong and steady and has a high cruising speed. I think that lends itself to a little longer race.”
Excellent Truth breaks from post 4 under Flavien Prat while Dynamic Pricing breaks from post 5 under Dylan Davis.
Be Your Best has won four of her last five starts including the Grade 1 Gamely at Santa Anita in May. She won that race in front-running fashion and could play out as the primary speed again breaking from post 6 under Irad Ortiz Jr. for Saffie Joseph Jr. Be Your Best ran her worst race when finishing eighth over less than firm ground in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley.
“I feel like on firm ground, she’s one of the best fillies,” Joseph said. “The Gamely, that was a good performance. They went quick and she was able to keep going and the time came out fast. You could knock the quality but she could only beat what was in there.”
Lady Claypoole was in the Gamely, rallying from eight lengths back to be second. Prior to that, she rallied from last to win the Grade 3 Santa Ana. She has shipped cross-country to take another swing at a Grade 1.
“They’re going to have to come back to her. She makes one run, that’s her [style],” trainer Richard Baltas said. “Now, she’s shipping so that’s an unknown. She really thrived at San Luis Rey Downs being outside in the quiet surroundings. She just got good on me.”
Joel Rosario picks up the mount.
Choisya, trained by Simon and Ed Crisford, came to Keeneland in April to win the Jenny Wiley. She will try to rebound from a seventh-place finish in the Just a Game.
The Diana goes as race 11 on a 12-race card that begins at 12:35 p.m. and also includes the Grade 2 Bowling Green for older males at 1 3/8 miles on turf.
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