Scratch of Didia makes Fev Rover likely favorite in Beverly D.

The complexion of the Grade 1, $500,000 Beverly D. Stakes on Saturday at Colonial Downs changed dramatically on Friday when trainer Ignacio Correas took Didia out of the race.

Didia was set to vie for favoritism with Fev Rover, but in her absence, Fev Rover figures to be a defined favorite in the 1 3/16-mile turf fixture for older fillies and mares.

Didia, a 5-year-old Argentinian import, had been aimed all season at the Beverly D., a race Correas came close to winning in 2017 with another mare from Argentina, Dona Bruja. But Friday morning at Colonial, after Didia had gone through a strong gallop, Correas didn’t like what he saw. Didia, Correas said, had knocked her head about a week ago and opened a cut that required stitching. The wound looked fine and was causing no trouble, but when Didia’s groom took the mare’s bridle off following her Friday training session, Didia reacted violently.

“I guess she was tender there with the trip and the ship and all that,” said Correas, who sent Didia to Colonial from Keeneland earlier this week. “She was acting wild and she’s very nice, usually. I didn’t like what I saw from her at all. That wasn’t her, so I took her out” of the race.

Correas will send Didia back to Keeneland and expects her to resume training shortly. Her goal is the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, with one start preceding it.

Fev Rover now appears to be the defined favorite in the Beverly D., which will go with five runners at most since one entrant, Rocky Sky, raced Friday at Saratoga, Didia hardly is a fast horse, but this short field has a speed void and Didia would at least have been close to the pace. Her scratch means there’s an even stronger chance Fev Rover takes the lead from post 1.

“Could be,” said trainer Mark Casse. Jockey Javier Castellano “is going to have to work out a trip from the one hole. The one hole, that was our demise last time.”

Fev Rover ran a winning race July 15 in the Grade 1 Diana at Saratoga. Breaking from the rail, she was locked in behind pacesetting In Italian, with In Italian’s stablemate, eventual winner Whitebeam, keeping Fev Rover pinned down at the rail until upper stretch. Fev Rover finally got outside and came with a run that fell a half-length short, and on Saturday she has found in a great spot, especially with the scratch of a key rival, to notch her first Grade 1 victory. The 5-year-old mare is Group 1-placed in England and was a close fourth in the Grade 1 E. P. Taylor last fall at Woodbine.

“She’s an extremely talented horse and we’ve never seen her better. I expect a big effort,” Casse said.

Wioth Rocky Sky’s certain scratch, trainer Chad Brown, the dominant force in the older female turf-route division, will have just Gina Romantic in a race he won five years in a row, 2014 – 2019. Gina Romantica, now likely the strong second choice, did get a perfect trip winning the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup last October at Keeneland, her career zenith, but she strode away impressively through the final furlong of that nine-furlong contest. Gina Romantica didn’t make her 2023 debut until June 17, when she raced headstrong, without cover while tracking the pace, in the Eatontown Stakes at Monmouth. At 1 1/16 miles, the Eatontown was shorter than Gina Romantica’s best distance, and her close fourth-place finish should have her set for an improved performance.

Mise En Scene beat a lesser allowance group last out at Saratoga, though she did respond favorably, trainer Brendan Walsh said, to a tactical change, being held farther off the pace. Romagna Mia has been in trainer Graham Motion’s barn for a month after being imported from France, where her form this year doesn’t put her in win contention. Jan’s Girl, a 40-1 shot listed at 12-1 on the morning line, completes the field.

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