Saratoga: Diana to create a new Grade 1 winner

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A field of 10 older fillies and mares was drawn Wednesday for Saturday’s $500,000 Diana, at least one of whom will achieve a career milestone by posting her first Grade 1 win.

Unbridled Humor, perfect in four career starts, will break from the rail under regular rider John Velazquez. She’ll be joined, in post position order, by Justaroundmidnight (Joe Bravo), Dyna Waltz (Edgar Prado), Zagora (Javier Castellano), Bay to Bay (Alan Garcia), Aruna (Ramon Dominguez), Aviate (Julien Leparoux), Giants Play (Rajiv Maragh), Mekong Melody( Alex Solis), and Romacaca (E.T. Baird).

Zagora has come the closest of the group to winning a Grade 1, having finished second in Keeneland’s Queen Elizabeth Challenge Cup last October, chasing home only Harmonious when making her U.S. debut.

Aviate is a Grade 2 winner, but disappointed in her lone U.S. appearance at the Grade 1 level when finishing sixth as the 3-2 favorite in the Just a Game.

“Twenty-Five and one, Fifty and two, One Fifteen and two,” said Bill Mott when asked why Aviate ran so poorly in the Just a Game after having rallied to a 1 1/2-length victory in the Distaff Turf Mile at Churchill Downs. “Those fractions are a good indication of the amount of give in the ground that day. At least, that’s the excuse I’m giving her. She was just flat last time.”