Brown's Diana dominance will be challenged

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Chad Brown’s stranglehold on the Grade 1 Diana Stakes figures to get severely tested on Saturday at Saratoga.

Brown has won the 1 1/8-mile Diana on turf eight of the last nine years and he’s won nine runnings overall. While he does send out two top contenders in the field of six, neither Dynamic Pricing or Excellent Truth are likely to go favored. That role figures to go to She Feels Pretty, a winner of four consecutive graded stakes, including the Grade 1 New York here on June 6.

In Dynamic Pricing and Excellent Truth, Brown sends out the one-two finishers from the Grade 1 Just a Game going a mile here on the same June 6 card.

“I’m coming in with two good horses, they ran first and second in a Grade 1 last time, so I feel good about it,” Brown said.

Dynamic Pricing went just 1 for 6 last year but definitely benefited from Brown giving her a freshening after her narrow defeat when third in the Winter Memories Stakes last September at Aqueduct. Dynamic Pricing won the Grade 3 Beaugay at Aqueduct in May before taking the Just a Game over Excellent Truth.

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“Just the physical improvement I’ve seen in her, I don’t see why she can’t get a mile and an eighth,” Brown said.

Excellent Truth was a Group 3 winner at 1 1/4 miles in France. She has run 1 1/16 miles and one mile in two starts this year, getting beat a half-length in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley and three-quarters of a length in the Just a Game.

“I’ve been running her shorter because that’s where the races were,” Brown said. “She’s definitely built to be at her best at a mile and an eighth.”

Excellent Truth breaks from post 4 under Flavien Prat. Dynamic Pricing will break from post 5 under Dylan Davis.

She Feels Pretty drew the rail, followed by Choisya, the upset winner of the Jenny Wiley, and Lady Claypoole. Be Your Best, who beat Lady Claypoole by 2 3/4 lengths in the Grade 1 Gamely at Santa Anita, breaks from post 6.

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