Appleby will take on Brown's army in Diana with Creative Flair
ELMONT, N.Y. - Though Chad Brown has 10 of the 14 fillies and mares nominated to the Grade 1 Diana at Saratoga on July 16, he will not be the only trainer with runners in the race.
Trainer Charlie Appleby plans to run Creative Flair in the Diana, run at 1 1/8 miles on the turf. Last year, Appleby ran one-two in the Diana with Althiqa and Summer Romance, ending a string of five successive years in which Brown won the Diana.
Creative Flair is already in New York, having arrived with the two 3-year-olds Appleby plans to run in this weekend’s Belmont Derby and Belmont Oaks.
Creative Flair ran twice in the U.S. last year, finishing third in the Saratoga Oaks and fourth in the Jockey Club Oaks. In her lone start this year, Creative Flair won the Group 2 Balanchine at Meydan in Dubai in February.
“It was a good performance,” Appleby said of the Balanchine. “She’s a pretty rock-solid filly that’s yet to win at the Group 1 level. It was always our target to come to America with her and have another crack at it.”
Appleby said both With the Moonlight, who runs in the Belmont Oaks, and Nations Pride, who runs in the Belmont Derby, could join Creative Flair in Saratoga depending how they run this weekend.
The other non-Brown nominees in the Diana are Ocean Road, who won the Grade 1 Gamely at Santa Anita for trainer Brendan Walsh; Plum Ali, fourth in last Saturday’s Nassau Stakes at Woodbine for Christophe Clement; and Dalika, second in the Grade 3 Mint Julep at Churchill Downs on June 5.
Of Brown’s 10 nominees, eight are owned by Peter Brant, including probable starters Bleecker Street, Rougir, and Flighty Lady. Technical Analysis, owned by Seth Klarman, and Fluffy Socks, owned by Sol Kumin’s Head of Plains Partners, are the two Brown nominees not owned by Brant.