Diana tough assignment for Alterite
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Alterite was good enough to win a Grade 1 stakes in her first start in the United States last September. She’s going to have to be even better in order to win a Grade 1 in her first start of her 4-year-old season in Saturday’s $500,000 Diana Stakes at Saratoga.
Sidelined due to an ankle chip following a third-place finish last year’s Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, Alterite makes her first start in 8 1/2 months against nine graded stakes winners in the Diana. Trainer Chad Brown had thought about waiting for next weekend’s Matchmaker Stakes at Monmouth, but likes the way Alterite has been training and prefers keeping her home at Saratoga.
“We’re here – run her out of her own stall,” Brown said Wednesday. “She has enough quality to her. It’s not impossible. Plus, it sets me up now where the races are positioned maybe she could come back in the Beverly D. if I get her started rather than wait the extra week for the Matchmaker.”
The Beverly D. at Arlington is Aug. 16.
After winning the Grade 1 Garden City last fall at Belmont, Alterite was beaten a neck in the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth at Keeneland before getting beat a length by Dank in the Breeders’ Cup.
Alterite, who will be ridden by Javier Castellano from post 8, is one of two horses Brown will start in the Diana. He will also send out Stephanie’s Kitten, who is coming off two subpar races but whose last two works, in company with Real Solution, have been very good.
Frankie Dettori, in from England to ride the first four days of the meet primarily for Wesley Ward, has picked up the mount on Stephanie’s Kitten.
The Diana drew a terrific cast, including Grade 1 winners Discreet Marq, Emollient, and Tannery as well as Grade 2 winners Caroline Thomas and Solid Appeal and Grade 3 winners Abaco, Somali Lemonade, and Strathnaver.
One filly not entered for Saturday’s Diana was Coffee Clique, winner of the Grade 1 Just a Game at Belmont on June 7. Trainer Brian Lynch said Coffee Clique missed “10 or 12 days of training,” though she recently has gone back under tack.