Excellent Truth Refuses to Yield, Denies She Feels Pretty in Diana
The GI Dunkin' Diana Stakes continues, as it has for nine of the last ten years, to run through the Chad Brown barn as Excellent Truth (Ire) (Cotai Glory {GB}) just edged out favorite She Feels Pretty (Karakontie {Jpn}) in a stretch duel to take the opening Grade I of the Saratoga summer meet.
While eyes and wagering dollars were on Cherie DeVaux's She Feels Pretty, Brown wielded a strong hand in stablemates Excellent Truth and Dynamic Pricing (Ire) (Night of Thunder {Ire}), the one-two finishers in the GI Just A Game Stakes over this course June 6. Heavy rain Saturday morning dampened the course down to yielding and expected pacesetter Be Your Best (Ire) (Muhaara {GB}) scratched for Saffie Joseph, Jr. leaving a five-horse field otherwise intact. Excellent Truth, notably second to her stablemate in the aforementioned Just A Game and also to Choisya (GB) (Night of Thunder {GB}) in the GI Jenny Wiley at Keeneland, stretched out to Saturday's 1 1/8-mile distance with aplomb in the silks of Resolute Racing.
Expertly guided in the hands of Flavien Prat, aboard for both of her starts since coming stateside for John Stewart, the 5-year-old broke inside of her stablemate and hustled up to form a three-wide charge for the lead outside of rail-drawn She Feels Pretty and Choisya who outsprinted them both. The favorite took back, opting to sit third as Choisya led along the hedge with Excellent Truth never far behind as the field cornered for the first time. In a single file line up the backstretch, the Jenny Wiley winner continued to lead through the opening half in :48.52 with little pressure from either two of her main rivals who were yet to move behind her. It was Excellent Truth who jumped first, drawing alongside midway around the far turn while She Feels Pretty was winding up three wide and the three of them came off the corner together. As the longshot pacesetter faded along the hedge, Excellent Truth was led to contend with the four-time Grade I winner to her inside and the pair threw down the length of the stretch with the Chad Brown runner just edging past the favorite in the final strides to win in a driving finish. It was the 10th overall Diana win for Brown while Flavien Prat picked up his third straight having claimed the last two aboard Whitebeam (GB) (Caravaggio).
“It means a lot,” Brown said of his landmark win. “A lot of different horses have done it. Many of the same team members, though. I know I mention his name a lot–[Bobby] Frankel–but I think about him on days like this. This was a race that I can't believe he only won twice, he always pointed to it. It was right in his wheelhouse with a female turf horse–he taught me so much. A big part of it is him, his legacy lives on, because it is his system we are using.”
Of Excellent Truth's win, he said: “That reminded me a little bit of the 3-year-old race [2024 GII Lake Placid] when Grayosh, in another race versus She Feels Pretty, came back again on her. I'm really happy for this horse. She had her day today. She has had two tough trips. I think you could argue with a cleaner trip, she could be 3-for-3 in the country. She has always trained like a top horse all winter. I want to thank John Stewart [owner, Resolute Racing] and his team. He could've picked anyone to train her, I was so happy when she showed up in our barn at Payson this winter. She has never had a bad day. She deserved the win today.”
“We felt in her last couple of races, she was probably a little further back [than optimal],” Brown continued. “As Flavien [Prat] and I got to know her, she didn't have that electric turn of foot that maybe we thought was under the hood when we really turned her loose in a race. She took a few strides to get going, a little bit more of a strong, steady run she has. So, he had been commenting to me, particularly after the last race, 'you know Chad, I probably should've been a little closer today, and I would've avoided that wide trip on the final turn. I'm going to try to get closer.' Then with the scratch of the six [No. 6, Be Your Best], it became, 'I may even be on the lead now. I don't want to be far away at all.' Luis Saez [ aboard No. 2, Choisya] wanted to be on the lead, which I understand, so we got a good trip. Down the lane, there was no excuse for either horse, we ran right down the stretch together and she showed a lot of heart.”
Winning owner John Stewart said of the result, “It's awesome. We won the New York last year with Didia [with trainer Ignacio Correas, IV] and now we have this one here with Chad–and Chad is Saratoga racing. Excellent Truth had a couple of shots and got second in both of them. We knew she was this quality of horse. I think it's a testament to NYRA with the weather challenges and everything that came up to have the race run today and the competition we had in the race. It wasn't a big field, but it was really deep. This is what I got into racing for–to make sure we're competing at the highest level with the best horses, and I think we all saw that today. Any one of those horses could have won that race and it was just phenomenal to get the win. Chad and Flavien [are] a dangerous combination and I'm really happy to have them train and ride for us.”
