Lady Eli campaigns for Eclipse Award with Diana triumph

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Having won back-to-back Grade 1 victories the last two months, Lady Eli has positioned herself for a run at an Eclipse Award that, to date, has been the only thing that has eluded the gutsy 5-year-old mare.

Lady Eli overcame breaking through the starting gate prior to the race to run down Quidura and win Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Diana Stakes at Saratoga by a head. The victory was Lady Eli’s ninth from 12 lifetime starts and her fifth career Grade 1 score. On May 27, she won the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes at Santa Anita after she was narrowly beaten by Dickinson in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley to begin the year.

Lady Eli, a finalist for an Eclipse Award as a 2-year-old in 2014, did not have complete campaigns in her 3- and 4-year-old seasons - both were interrupted by a bout of laminitis. Last year, Lady Eli suffered narrow defeats in the Grade 2 Ballston Spa and the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf from only three starts.

“There’s probably not a more deserving horse in the sport right now to get an Eclipse Award than her before she’s all done racing,” Brown said. “I’d have to say she’s maintained her position, maybe increased her position in this division. The year’s not over. She’s got more work to do. If she says healthy and in good form she’s got a good chance at it.”

Brown said Lady Eli emerged from the Diana - for which she earned a 102 Beyer Speed Figure - with some scrapes on a front leg. She also lost some hair on a knee, the result of breaking through the starting gate after her stablemate, Antonoe, did the same prior to the start of the Diana.

“Nothing serious. [It's] evidence of how hard she did hit the gate prior to running,” Brown said. “It couldn’t have helped her.”

Brown said the Grade 1 Flower Bowl - a race she won last year - at Belmont Park on Oct. 8 is the most likely next start for Lady Eli. However, he did not completely rule out the Ballston Spa on Aug. 26 at Saratoga.

“Probably unlikely, but not impossible, that I run her back in the Ballston Spa,” Brown said.

Brown said Antonoe, who did check in the late stages of the Diana, came out of her race unscathed. She is a candidate for the Ballston Spa, Brown said.

“Antonoe ran terrific, she was just unlucky,” Brown said.

Diana runner-up Quidura will likely have one more race before the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, trainer Graham Motion said. Motion said Quidura likes plenty of time between starts, so he will likely try to find something in September that he could use as a prep for the Breeders’ Cup, which this year will be run at 1 1/8 miles.

One race that could make sense for Quidura from a timing standpoint is the $150,000 All Along Stakes going 1 1/16 miles at Laurel Park on Sept. 16.