Brown Seeks 11th Victory in Saratoga's Grade 1 Diana

There's dominance. And then there's trainer Chad Brown in the Diana Stakes (G1T). Though Brown started training 19 years ago in 2007, he already owns 10 victories in the Diana. He's won the last four editions of Saratoga Race Course's grade 1 turf fixture for older fillies and mares, and those numbers stretch to winning nine of the last 10 runnings. "It's a race I've long targeted with my best group of turf fillies each year," Brown said. "You develop a feel over time of which horses will like the course and the distance and the timing and then you work backward from this race and really play for it. Plenty of times we've been lucky enough to hit the mark with the ones that could step up and do it." Speaking of hitting the mark, Brown is ideally positioned for a record-extending 11th victory in the $500,000 Diana as he will send out four of the seven starters in the July 18 renewal of the 1 1/8-mile turf stakes at the Spa. "The Diana is one of the most prestigious, most important grade 1 races in this division for older female turf horses in the country, if not the most important race. It's at that middle distance of a mile and an eighth where you'll have milers move up and mile and a quarter horses cut back. It's a really fair distance to put the best horses out there to run against each other," Brown said. The foursome includes three grade 1 winners and the other was second in that kind of top-level company. Klaravich Stables' Portfolio Duration (GB) is coming off a win in the 1 3/16-mile New York Stakes (G1T) June 5 at the Spa. It was the initial stakes win for the daughter of Night of Thunder (IRE) who has captured three of her five career starts. "I think the cutback will work into her favor," Brown said. "She doesn't need the lead, she can run off the pace. She's a pretty versatile horse. I'm happy to see her develop this year into the horse we thought she could be." Juddmonte's homebred Segesta won the 1 1/16-mile Jenny Wiley Stakes (G1T) in a dead heat to kick off 2026 but then was subsequently third in the mile Just a Game Stakes (G1T) at the Spa. "She's in good form and has two races under belt this year," Brown said about the Ghostzapper mare. "A mile and an eighth is definitely within her scope." Brown's contingent also includes Klaravich's Dynamic Pricing (IRE), a Night of Thunder mare who is coming off a second in the Beaugay Stakes (G3T) and won the 2025 Just a Game, and Michael Caruso and Michael Dubb's grade 1-placed Kathynmarissa, a daughter of American Pharoah who won the Modesty Stakes (G3T) earlier in the year. The competition features Amo Racing USA's Cathedral (GB), who is returning to America after finishing fourth in last year's Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1T). The Too Darn Hot (GB) filly, who is trained by Kevin Philippart De Foy, was seventh in a group 2 stakes at Royal Ascot most recently. Cheyenne Stables' Lope de Vega (IRE) mare Ozara (IRE) won the Ballston Spa Stakes (G2T) last year but is exiting a sixth in the Royal North Stakes (G3T) at Woodbine for trainer Miguel Clement.