Among six declared for the Diana Stakes of 2025 at Saratoga Race Course on Saturday, July 12 are two Belmont Stakes Racing Festival winners from last month. Battling for a big slice of the $500,000 prize purse are Just A Game heroine Dynamic Pricing and New York victor She Feels Pretty.
The local Chad Brown barn has become synonymous with success in the 1,800m Grade I event during the summer meet. He has literally farmed the race with eight wins in the last nine seasons and nine overall. Brown has two bidding to extend his record to 10.
Following her Just A Game Stakes victory on the Belmont Stakes day schedule, Dynamic Pricing looks the pick of his pair ahead of barn buddy Excellent Truth. They fought out the finish on June 7 and now step up another 200m for the Diana Stakes of 2025.
While Cotai Glory mare Excellent Truth has raced beyond a mile in France, Dynamic Pricing now tackles the 1,800m trip for the first time in her career. Given the barn’s excellent record in the contest, and how they both shaped in the Just A Game, both should relish going further.
Out to stop Brown from adding to his haul is Cherie DeVaux’s She Feels Pretty. She twice finished ahead of Dynamic Pricing at NYRA racetracks last season. That includes when both fillies made the show behind Grayosh in the Grade II Lake Placid Stakes here in Saratoga Springs in August.
She Feels Pretty, a daughter of Japanese sire Karakontie, proved her stamina with subsequent wins in the American Oaks at Santa Anita over the winter and here in the New York when a hot favorite with Belmont Stakes betting sites and handicappers last month. She could have the Brown fillies’ number.
Gamely Stakes 1-2 Add Another Line
Gulfstream Park’s Pegasus World Cup Filly & Mare Turf winner Be Your Best took her form to a whole new level with a Grade I breakthrough last time on the track. Saffie Joseph’s five-year-old Muhaarar mare made most of the running in the Gamely Stakes in California around Santa Anita.
Off the same terms as that May race in the Diana Stakes of 2025, there looks no obvious reason why Be Your Best shouldn’t confirm the result with re-opposing second Lady Claypole. Richard Baltas’ daughter of Starspangledbanner ran a career best as she kept on into a place, but may want slower turf underfoot.
Lady Claypole is a Grade III winner at the California track over further and 2,000m may be more her trip. She didn’t win a race when trained in England, but now finds herself in much deeper waters against some Saratoga regulars.
Completing the small but select field of fillies and mares is Simon & Ed Crisford’s Choisya. She tries a new distance after spending her entire campaign overseas. The daughter of Night Of Thunder arrived on this side of the Atlantic after landing two Group 2 races at Meydan in the Middle East this winter.
Choisya duly followed-up in the Grade I Jenny Wiley around Keeneland, where she had Lady Claypole well-beaten in-behind. Her Saratoga debut on slower going didn’t go to plan, however, and she finished seventh well adrift of Dynamic Pricing and Excellent Truth.
On a faster surface, however, Choisya is clearly capable of better as her globetrotting exploits demonstrate. She has a win over this 1,800m distance in the Balanchine, where she defeated last season’s Belmont Oaks heroine Cinderella’s Dream by a head. The runner-up has since won a Group 2 in England and finished second during Royal Ascot.
Diana Stakes 2025 Post Positions Draw & Morning Line Odds
- She Feels Pretty (124lbs) – 1-1 fav
- Choisya (124lbs) – 10-1
- Lady Claypole (122lbs) – 15-1
- Excellent Truth (120lbs) – 7-2
- Dynamic Pricing (124lbs) – 9-2
- Be Your Best (124lbs) – 4-1
Our Handicapper’s Verdict
Chad Brown may well bring up a 10th victory in the race, but there is no reason why She Feels Pretty shouldn’t finish in front of her old rival Dynamic Pricing following four consecutive wins over this trip or further. Despite facing her barn buddy off the same terms as last time, Excellent Truth could appreciate the extra distance.
Choisya didn’t give her true running during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, so she needs to bounce back. Be Your Best may ensure this is a proper test of stamina if adopting the same frontrunning tactics from her California success.
WATCH: She Feels Pretty Win the New York Stakes at Saratoga
