Brown wins Diana again as Excellent Truth holds off She Feels Pretty
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - The truth of the matter is, when it comes to the Grade 1 Diana Stakes, it’s foolhardy to wager against Chad Brown.
Excellent Truth, a narrow loser in her first two starts in North America, was confronted, brushed and passed by heavily favored She Feels Pretty in midstretch, but battled back along the inside under Flavien Prat to beat She Feels Pretty by a head in the $500,000 Diana at Saratoga on Saturday.
It was the fourth straight year, ninth in the last 10 years, and 10th overall victory in the Diana for Brown, who also Saturday sent out third-place finisher Dynamic Pricing. Since winning his first Diana with Zagora in 2011, Brown has a record of 10-5-11 with 41 starters in the Diana.
“It means a lot, a lot of different horses have done it, many of the same team members,” Brown said. “I know I mention his name a lot - [Bobby] Frankel - but I think about him on days like this. I can’t believe he only won it twice. He always pointed to it with a female turf horse, it was right in his wheelhouse. I think about him on days like this, a big part of it is him and his legacy lives on because it’s his system we’re using.”
Brown’s legacy, to this point, is his success with female turf runners. Frequently, when owners bring horses over from Europe, they go to Brown. John Stewart, who races under the Resolute Racing banner, bought Excellent Truth last year and sent her to Brown over the winter at Payson Park.
In her first two starts, Excellent Truth finished second to Choisya in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley at Keeneland and was second to Dynamic Pricing in the Grade 1 Just a Game here in June. In addition to those races perhaps being a little too short, Excellent Truth was perhaps too far back early on in those races.
Going into the Diana, Brown and Prat planned to have Excellent Truth closer to the pace. When expected pacesetter Be Your Best scratched due to the soft ground - heavy rain hit Saratoga Saturday morning - Prat mentioned to Brown he may put Excellent Truth on the lead.
Luis Saez was intent on the lead aboard Choisya and Prat was content to sit second, about a length or so off it. Choisya set fractions of 23.78 seconds for the quarter, 48.52 for the half-mile and 1:12.61. Excellent Truth was two lengths in front of She Feels Pretty at that point.
Approaching the top of the stretch, Prat made his move on Excellent Truth and John Velazquez followed suit, three-wide, on She Feels Pretty. With Choisya still fighting on the inside, Excellent Truth was between horses and was brushed by She Feels Pretty. Prat said that only emboldened Excellent Truth.
“He squeezed me a little bit, but it actually made her run, I think,” Prat said. “Honestly, turning for home, [She Feels Pretty] just had a better kick than I did, but I thought she wasn’t done and she just kept coming. It seems like she needed every inch of the ground.”
She Feels Pretty finished 4 1/2 lengths in front of Dynamic Pricing, who was a nose in front of Choisya. Lady Claypoole was last.
Excellent Truth, a 5-year-old French-bred daughter of Cotai Glory, covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:47.37 over a Mellon Turf course labeled good and returned $8 as the second choice and was given a 102 Beyer Speed Figure.
“I’m really happy for this horse, she had her day today,” Brown said. “She had two tough trips. I think you could argue with cleaner trips she could be 3 for 3 in the country. She always trained like a top horse all winter. I want to thank John Stewart and his team, he really could have picked anyone to train her. I was happy when she showed up at our barn at Payson this winter. She’s never had a bad day. She deserved to win today.”
She Feels Pretty, trained by Cherie DeVaux and who was spotting Excellent Truth four pounds, perhaps is not at her best on softer turf. She had her four-race winning streak snapped and lost for only the fourth time in 11 starts, the combination of defeat being 1 1/2 lengths.
Velazquez said he thought he might be in trouble when he didn’t open up on Excellent Truth after gaining a narrow advantage in midstretch.
“She was going really well until the point I put a head in front and she kind of hung a little bit,” Velazquez said. “The grass may be a little softer than she wants it, but the other horse ran great, can’t take it away. I got all over [Excellent Truth] in the stretch, tried to intimidate her, she came back again.”
Prat became the first jockey to win the Diana three straight years. He won it in 2023 and 2024 with Whitebeam.
“It’s great. Whitebeam, the first time, was a surprise, the second time she obviously ran a good race,” Prat said. “Just been on good fillies.”
Good fillies that were trained by Chad Brown.
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