Godolphin brings its 1-2 punch of Althiqa and Summer Romance into Diana

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Althiqa owns a 2-1 advantage over her stablemate Summer Romance, including a victory in the Grade 1 Just a Game at Belmont Park last month.

Summer Romance looks to even the score while giving Godolphin Racing another Grade 1 victory in the United States when those two head an eight-horse field scheduled to run in Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Diana Stakes at Saratoga.

Summer Romance set the pace in the Just a Game only to be run down by Althiqa in the one-mile race. The Diana is run at 1 1/8 miles, a distance at which Summer Romance beat Althiqa in the Group 2 Balanchine last February at Meydan.

“You would, based on that evidence, favor Summer Romance over Althiqa but at the end of the day it’s so closely coupled,” said Charlie Appleby, who trains both fillies for Godolphin Racing. “When they ran in the Just a Game, Althiqa ran her down well.”

Summer Romance, a 4-year-old daughter of Kingman, looks like the primary speed in the Diana. She breaks from post 6 under Luis Saez, who was aboard in the Just a Game.

Althiqa, who will be ridden by Manny Franco, will likely be off the pace early as she was in the Just a Game.

“They’ll both be ridden in similar style” to the Just a Game, Appleby said. “Althiqa will be given every chance to see that [added] furlong out.”

Chad Brown has won the last five Dianas and six overall. Saturday, he sends out Lemista and Pocket Square. Lemista, a 4-year-old daughter of Raven’s Pass, finished second to Harvey’s Lil Goil in the Grade 3 Beaugay going 1 1/16 miles on May 8 at Belmont. That was her first start in eight months and first for Brown.

Lemista is 2 for 2 at 1 1/8 miles, including a victory in the Group 2 Kilroy Estate Stakes last July at The Curragh in Ireland.

Brown said the nine-furlong distance “is what she wants to do and it looks like she won’t have any trouble handling some give in the ground.”

Lemista, the 5-2 morning-line favorite, will break from post 7 under Irad Ortiz Jr.

Pocket Square, a 4-year-old daughter of Night of Thunder, won an allowance race at Keeneland in April before finishing fifth in the Just a Game as the favorite. Brown noted that Pocket Square missed a workout leading up to the race and that she may not have cared for the softer turf condition on the day.

“I’m hoping with Pocket Square it was more due to missing a work and less due to the ground,” Brown said. “Certainly, in Europe she ran well over soft ground.”

The ever-changing Saratoga forecast now has just a 40 percent chance of showers on Saturday after dry days Thursday and Friday. Several inches of rain fell earlier in the week.

Trainer Bill Mott is hoping for dry weather for Harvey’s Lil Goil. She had a terrific fall, winning the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II and finishing third, beaten a neck, in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf.

After beating Lemista in the Beaugay to kick off her campaign, Harvey’s Lil Goil finished fifth in the New York, a race run over yielding ground.

“If the ground is soft I don’t like our chances,” said Mott, a four-time Diana winner. “If the ground is good-to-firm then we should be okay. I think she really did struggle with the ground last time.”

Trainer Arnaud Delacour is another hoping for dry conditions as he said he would scratch Magic Attitude if the turf is soft. Prior to running seventh in the New York Stakes over yielding ground, she won the Sheepshead Bay by a widening three lengths on May 1 at Belmont.

Vigilantes Way and La Signare are longshots, but not without a chance

Vigilantes Way, second to Mean Mary in the Gallorette at Pimlico, came back to win the Grade 3 Eatontown at Monmouth.

“We’re going to have to step it up, but she’s training that way,” McGaughey said.

La Signare, trained by Brendan Walsh, has won just once in her last 12 starts, but she is coming off a second-place finish in the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes on May 31 at Santa Anita.

“It’s a tough spot again. She’s been running in this company the last three or four times and hasn’t let us down,” Walsh said. “She’s one of them horses the race has to set up just right for her and if it does she can be right there.”

Ricardo Santana Jr. rides La Signare from the rail.

The Diana goes as race 10 on an 11-race card that begins at 1:05 p.m. and includes the Grade 3, $150,000 Sanford Stakes for 2-year-olds.