SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Trainer Chad Brown started five horses in his quest to win a record-extending ninth Grade 1 Diana Stakes on Saturday at Saratoga. A half-mile into the 1 1/8-mile turf race, he realistically felt that only one had a chance to win. Whitebeam, who upset last year’s Diana at 8-1, had gotten away with a pedestrian 49.49-second half-mile on Saturday and was one length clear of her closest pursuer. “I was surprised how slow they were going, I had mixed feelings about it,” Brown said. “I had some closers in the race as well. I sort of put all my chips on Whitebeam from the half-mile on.” Whitebeam, under Flavien Prat, helped Brown - and her supporters - cash out by maintaining her advantage to the wire to win the Diana by three-quarters of a length. Moira rallied to get second by a nose over the Brown-trained Gina Romantica. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. Didia, the 2-1 favorite coming off her victory in the Grade 1 New York Stakes here last month, finished fourth. She was followed in the order of finish by Coppice, Mission of Joy, Evvie Jets, Fluffy Socks, Chili Flag and Neecie Marie. Brown trained the horses who finished 1-3-5-8-9. In addition to giving Brown his ninth victory in the Diana - eighth in the last nine years - Whitebeam became the eighth filly to win back-to-back runnings of this race. The last to do it was Sistercharlie, trained by Brown, in 2018-19. Forever Together (2008-09), Glowing Honor (1988-89) and Hush Dear (1982-83) were the other ones to do it on turf. Shuvee, Tempted and Miss Grillo won back-to-back runnings on dirt. Brown, whose first career Grade 1 victory came when Zagora won this race in 2011, said his mentor Bobby Frankel instilled the importance of this race when he worked for him. In addition to Whitebeam, Brown has won this race with In Italian, Rushing Fall, Sistercharlie twice, Lady Eli, Dacita and Zagora. “For him to hold it in high regard, it really must have meant something,” Brown said. “This is a race I need to focus on because he wasn’t wrong much. I’m very fortunate to have horses good enough to run in this race.” Whitebeam had gone 0 for 4 since her Diana victory last year. In two starts this year, she was second in the Grade 3 Beaugay and in the Grade 1 Just a Game. Brown thought those efforts and the way she had been training gave her a big chance. “I know she had things her own way on the front today, but if you look at her form, she’s been a pretty consistent horse over here,” said Brown, an acknowledgement that Whitebeam, owned by Juddmonte Farm, began her career in Europe. “I was cautiously optimistic that she would run her best race of the year the way she was training since her last race.” When Prat looked at this field on paper he felt he could make the lead easily. “It felt like I was kind of the lone speed,” said Prat, who was also on Whitebeam for last year’s Diana. “Obviously, she put me right into the race and it felt like she was very happy on the front end and responded very well when I asked her to make a move.” Whitebeam, a 5-year-old daughter of Carravaggio, covered the 1 1/8-miles in 1:48.14 and returned $11.60 as the third choice. Moira, fourth early, rallied to get second in her first start since she finished third in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf last Nov. 4. “She ran super,” trainer Kevin Attard said. “Obviously, they walked the dog out there. It was a slow pace - three quarters in 1:13-and-change - any Grade 1 horse on the lead is supposed to win from there. I can’t fault the ride. I thought she showed she belonged and obviously after a little bit of a layoff she should move forward off this race.” Manny Franco, the rider of Gina Romantica, said the pace compromised his filly’s closing kick. “The pace mattered in this race, that’s why the winner won,” Franco said. Ignacio “Nacho” Correas, the trainer of Didia, was frustrated no one went with Whitebeam and said it’s impossible to beat a trainer who has five horses in one race. “That’s how it is when you race with someone who has five horses in the race; next time I scratch,” Correas said. “I try everything with this guy, he’s impossible to beat when he puts in four or five horses. You go with them, they beat you from off the pace. You stay [back], he beats you on the lead. They’re all good horses in their own right, anyone can win. He has an operation that I don’t.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.