The $500,000 Diana Stakes (G1T) serves as the anchor to the traditional 40-day Saratoga Race Course meet July 12, and the six fillies and mares that comprise the starting gate grant true meaning to its grade 1 status.
Three of the runners exit victories at the top level, one succeeded at the level two starts back, and the final two placed in grade 1 contests in their last start. All these credentials combined will surely set up for a thrilling 1 1/8-mile battle over the inner turf.
In recent years, you haven't had to go much further than the barn of Chad Brown. The five-time Eclipse Award winner has won eight of the last nine editions and tallies nine total wins in the race—dating back to his first career grade 1 win with Zagora in 2011.
"It's a race that we target every year. It's a great race for this division," Brown said. "The distance seems pretty fair where horses meet in the middle—stretching out, cutting back."
One of Brown's two runners, Resolute Racing's Excellent Truth, could benefit from stretching out Saturday. A group 3 winner in France over 1 1/4 miles, the daughter of Cotai Glory has run very well in her first two American starts despite not picking up a win.
Following a half-length defeat in the 1 1/16-mile Jenny Wiley Stakes (G1T) at on good turf at Keeneland and a three-quarter-length defeat in the one-mile Just a Game Stakes (G1T) over yielding Saratoga turf last month, Brown is confident the added distance will be to her benefit.
"I think the distance is going to help her more," Brown said. "I ran in those two races because they were the best options available at the grade 1 level. I'm not sure they were her best distance. I think a mile and an eighth gives her just enough room to suit her personal pace that she likes to run at."
Following an identical path in terms of race distances to start her season is Klaravich Stables' Dynamic Pricing. Winner of the 1 1/16-mile Beaugay Stakes (G3T) at Aqueduct Racetrack, the Night of Thunder filly outfinished her Brown-trained stablemate to win the Just a Game.
Saturday's distance could be a question mark for Dynamic Pricing, with her one start beyond 1 1/16 miles being a seventh-place finish in last year's 1 3/16-mile Belmont Oaks Invitational Stakes (G1T). However, she seems to have taken a step forward as a 4-year-old.
"She looks good right now, so I'm hoping she can maintain her form," Brown said. "She's training well and never looked better."
Key opposition to Brown's 10th Diana win comes from a familiar foe—his former assistant Cherie DeVaux—who aims to keep She Feels Pretty's four-race win streak alive.
The four-time grade 1 winner has proven versatile, handling dry and wet turf as well as distances from 5 1/2 furlongs to 1 1/4 miles with different trips. At the 1 1/8 miles she'll face Saturday, the daughter of Karakontie is a perfect 2-for-2.
"She's quite unique in that," Devaux said about the Lael Stables filly's versatility. "She tries, she makes the most of each trip she's given and overcomes adversity. ... She's shown that no matter what conditions, no matter what is thrown at her, she always rises to the occasion."
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That versatility will be helpful from the rail Saturday as She Feels Pretty tends to find herself in a good stalking position. As far as expected pacesetters, Michael Ryan's Be Your Best appears the most likely on paper.
The 5-year-old Muhaarar mare exits a gate-to-wire win at the same distance when shipping to California in May for the Gamely Stakes (G1T). The Saffie Joseph Jr. trainee has raced either first or second in the early stages in each of her last five starts, which includes four graded wins.
Rabbah Bloodstock's Choisya could join She Feels Pretty in taking up the chase. After a pair of group 2 wins at Meydan Racecourse this winter, she debuted in the United States for trainer Simon Crisford with a half-length score over Excellent Truth in the Jenny Wiley.
In that start, the Night of Thunder mare was never further back than 1 1/2 lengths at any point of call over the good course. In her subsequent race, the Just a Game, she was 4 1/4 lengths back after a half-mile and eventually faded to finish seventh.
The final piece of the six-horse puzzle is Abbondanza Racing and Omar Aldabbagh's Lady Claypoole. Typically a late runner, the Richard Baltas-trained grade 3 winner is in career-best form ahead of her biggest career test.
Saratoga Race Course, Saturday, July 12, 2025, Race 11Entries: Dunkin' Diana S. (G1T)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1She Feels Pretty (KY) John R. Velazquez 124 Cherie DeVaux 1/1 2 2Choisya (GB) Luis Saez 124 Simon Crisford 8/1 3 3Lady Claypoole (IRE) Joel Rosario 122 Richard Baltas 20/1 4 4Excellent Truth (IRE) Flavien Prat 120 Chad C. Brown 5/2 5 5Dynamic Pricing (IRE) Dylan Davis 124 Chad C. Brown 9/2 6 6Be Your Best (IRE) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 124 Saffie A. Joseph, Jr. 6/1
