{"id":262883,"date":"2025-07-14T00:26:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T00:26:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/262883\/"},"modified":"2025-07-14T00:26:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T00:26:12","slug":"courageous-performance-next-start-undecided-for-diana-winner-excellent-truth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/262883\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Courageous Performance’ Next Start Undecided For Diana Winner Excellent Truth"},"content":{"rendered":"

‘Courageous Performance’ Next Start Undecided For Diana Winner Excellent Truth<\/a> originally appeared on Paulick Report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Resolute Racing\u2019s Excellent Truth outdueled post-time favorite She Feels Pretty late to land her first top-level victory while securing trainer Chad Brown a record-extending 10th score in Saturday\u2019s Dunkin\u2019 Diana (G1), a nine-furlong Mellon turf test for older fillies and mares, at Saratoga Race Course.<\/p>\n

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Brown was thrilled to see Excellent Truth break through in her third start for him. She was previously a close second at the top-level in the Jenny Wiley in April at Keeneland and the Just a Game presented by Resolute Racing last out on June 6 at Saratoga to stablemate Dynamic Pricing, who finished third in the Diana.<\/p>\n

Piloted by Flavien Prat on Saturday, Excellent Truth stuck close to the pacesetting Choisya while multiple Grade 1 winner She Feels Pretty stalked in third. After three-quarters in 1:12.16 on the good turf, the real running began between the top trio, with Excellent Truth sandwiched between rivals. Excellent Truth put her head in front of She Feels Pretty in a thrilling stretch duel in a final time of 1:47.37.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was a very courageous performance,\u201d said Brown, who won his ninth Diana in the past 10 years. \u201cI\u2019m so proud of her, with the way she battled back and showed a lot of heart. She got a really good trip \u2013 she got bumped a little bit in the lane \u2013 but outside of that, she got a good trip and she\u2019s been a very consistent horse. You could argue with a little better racing luck, she could\u2019ve won all three of her starts here.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf she had, I think everyone would be viewing her as a clear leader of the division. I still think she is a slight leader of the division, with a heads up win there just now, but I view her as a horse that easily could\u2019ve been undefeated so far, at three different distances. She is a remarkable talent, and I\u2019m not surprised, she has always trained super,\u201d Brown continued.<\/p>\n

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Brown confirmed the 5-year-old Cotai Glory dark bay exited the win in good order, but a next race is undecided, adding that she is doubtful to contest the upcoming local option in the 1 1\/16-mile Grade 2 Ballston Spa on August 8. A later Spa option is the 11-furlong Grade 2 Flower Bowl on August 30, which awards a \u201cWin and You\u2019re In\u201d berth to the Grade 1 Breeders\u2019 Cup Filly and Mare Turf in November at Del Mar.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it [the Ballston Spa] is too tight. I can\u2019t see any scenario where I wheel her back in that race,\u201d said Brown.<\/p>\n

Brown added that Klaravich Stables\u2019 Dynamic Pricing, a closing 4 1\/2-length third, may be due for a cutback in distance.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe turf was to her liking, but I think with the pace, those two horses sprinted home. Additionally, my reservation with her stretching out was the pace gets a little softer and it might dilute her kick just a touch. I was happy she got up for third,\u201d Brown said.<\/p>\n

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Among near-future stakes action for Brown is Klaravich Stables’ Strategic Focus, who is pointed to the nine-furlong Curlin (L), restricted to sophomore non-winners of a graded stakes at one-mile or over in 2025, on July 24 at Saratoga.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very impressed with that horse\u2019s development. He is heading to the Curlin,\u201d said Brown, who confirmed that race will separate the lightly raced Gun Runner chestnut from Hill Road\u2019s possible start in the $500,000 Jim Dandy (G2) on July 26 at Saratoga.<\/p>\n

This story was originally reported by Paulick Report<\/a> on Jul 13, 2025, where it first appeared.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"‘Courageous Performance’ Next Start Undecided For Diana Winner Excellent Truth originally appeared on Paulick Report. Resolute Racing\u2019s Excellent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262884,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[100516,100517,1071,74580,79,100518,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-262883","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-chad-brown","9":"tag-dynamic-pricing","10":"tag-racing","11":"tag-saratoga-race-course","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-truth","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114848752150469364","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262883"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262883\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}