An exceptional group of six fillies and mares is signed up to run in this year’s $500,000, Grade 1 Dunkin’ Diana Stakes Saturday at Saratoga Race Course, led by She Feels Pretty, who is riding a four-race win streak (all in graded stakes), including the Grade 1 New York Stakes Presented by Rivers Casino at Saratoga five weeks ago.
Be Your Best won the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes near the end of May and fits “like a T” at this level. Dynamic Pricing won the Grade 1 Just a Game Stakes Presented by Resolute Racing over the same inner turf course that the Diana Stakes will be held on last month, while Excellent Truth finished three-quarters of a length back in second. Choisya won the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley Stakes in her U.S. debut in April before a seventh-place effort in the Just a Game. Lady Claypoole finished second behind Be Your Best in the Gamely and prior to that won the Grade 3 Santa Ana Stakes.
Top contenders:
Be Your Best is one of two millionairesses in the field, having earned over $1.08 million to date while winning six of 20 races, all on turf. She Feels Pretty leads the field with over $1.78 million earned while winning seven of 10 races, also all on grass. The rest of the field also have rock-solid records, with 18 wins in 55 races and an average of $533,000 earned on grass.
Despite all that talent, Be Your Best appears to have as much probability of winning as She Feels Pretty but is very likely to go into the gate at higher odds, and so she gets my top billing. Although showing losses in her last two races on the Saratoga turf course, Be Your Best won both the first and second starts of her career on the grass at Saratoga, including the P. G. Johnson Stakes in the summer of 2022. She didn’t win again until last November, two races after moving to the barn of Saffie Joseph Jr. After winning the Long Island Stakes and Suwanee River Stakes in succession with 107 and 105 Equibase Speed Figures, respectively, Be Your Best won the TAA Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf Invitational Stakes Presented by SirDavis American Whisky this past January with a new career-best 108 figure.
Following three months off, Be Your Best ran poorly in the Jenny Wiley Stakes, in April but then the mare rebounded in a big way when leading from start to finish in the Gamely Stakes at the same mile and one-eighth distance of the Diana, earning a new career-best 110 figure. Irad Ortiz Jr. was aboard for the Gamely and rides back in this race. As no other horse in the field has shown any interest in being in front in the early stages of a race, the same tactics which led Be Your Best victory in the Gamely will likely be used in the Diana, making it at least a bit difficult for any of the other five horses, all with strong late kicks, to go by this mare in the late stages.
Lady Claypoole is very likely to go into the gate at the highest odds in the group, and if things go her way she could rally into second for a nice exacta payoff and possibly post the upset win just as she did two races back when winning the Santa Ana Stakes at odds of 11.70-1. The Santa Ana was her third straight winning effort, and then two months later in the Gamely, Be Your Best coasted along on an uncontested lead while Lady Claypoole sat sixth of seven for the first three quarters of a mile. The mare accelerated exceptionally well in the final stages of the Gamely, making up three lengths on the leader and running the last eighth of a mile in 11.4 seconds. Lady Claypoole had to settle for second, but earned a career-best 105 Equibase Speed Figure in the process. Trainer Richard Baltas is based in California and doesn’t ship his horses to run to New York that often, but he did so last month when winning the Jaipur Stakes with Ag Bullet and wouldn’t be doing so here if he didn’t think Lady Claypoole has a strong shot to earn at least a share of the Diana’s half-million-dollar purse.
She Feels Pretty has won seven of 10 races, including the New York Stakes last month on Saratoga’s outer turf course under John Velazquez, who has been in the saddle for six of the filly’s seven wins including her last four in graded stakes. This year, in her race before the New York, She Feels Pretty won the Modesty Stakes Presented by Veritas Prime in May following four months off, so she is likely to run as well, or better, Saturday in her third start off a layoff. She Feels Pretty earned 110 and 111 figures in her two 2025 races, and earned a career-best 113 figure winning the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes Presented by Dixiana last October before ending her 3-year-old season with a 110 figure earned via a win in the American Oaks. Although those four efforts and figures are top rate, they are not superior in any way to the 110 figure Be Your Best earned in the Gamely, or the 109 figures Choisya and Excellent Truth earned when first and second, respectively, in the Jenny Wiley. She Feels Pretty can run the last eighth of a mile in 11.6 seconds, which is about the same as the 11.4 -second final eighth Lady Claypoole ran in the Gamely. As such, She Feels Pretty has every right to win, but is no standout.
The other three horses here all have strong merits as well. Choisya fits at this level by virtue of winning the Jenny Wiley Stakes in April with a 109 figure. Although she ran poorly when seventh in the Just a Game, her recent four-furlong workout in 46.6 seconds on the Saratoga turf course (the third-best of 67 on the day) could signal a return to top form. Excellent Truth and Dynamic Pricing are both trained by Chad Brown, who has won the Diana the last three years in a row and in five of six years prior to that. Excellent Truth could not outfinish Dynamic Pricing in the Just a Game last month (earning a 106 figure) and prior to that had traffic trouble when beaten a half-length by Choisya in the Jenny Wiley (earning a 109 figure) so perhaps with a bit of luck she could turn the tables on those two. Dynamic Pricing returned from a bit over seven months off to win the Beaugay Stakes in May with a 93 figure and then really improved to 107 in the Just a Game. She’s a 4-year-old, the same as She Feels Pretty, so could easily take another step forward based on her speed figures in the Diana.
Although any of these six fillies and mares can win the Diana and would be no surprise if doing so, my top three win contenders, in preference/probability order, are:
Be Your Best
Lady Claypoole
She Feels Pretty
