The Diana (Grade 1)- $500.000 Purse
SAR- For Fillies and Mares Three Years Old and Upward
One Mile and One Eighth on the Turf
July 21, 2018

The 2018 Diana featured some of the best female turf stars in the game, but it also served as a stage for a new filly to burst onto the scene. Broken Chat had been an accomplished filly at the levels she had raced at, and she was a graded winner, but now she has proven she can beat the best in the division, and we’ll be looking for more out of her as the year goes on. She did it the hard way, with a fantastic ground-saving trip, and to shine in the stretch. Never digging too deep of a hole for herself early, she was ready to take charge late and picks up the victory! Estero Farms is your winning trainer, winning the race for the first time in his career. Jockey I Ortiz Jr wins for the second time, and for the second straight year. Congratulations to them! This is also the third straight year that the race has been won by a three year old. The time of the win was 1:46.06, a little slower then some of the more recent editions of the race, but it was all that was needed! Let’s take a look at it!

(½ Mile- :46.77)- As the race begins, Musical Treat, from Mb Stables, battles with Winning Link Stables’ Trump Princess and Commanding Faith, from Crocker Ggs. Eventually, and as they enter the opening turn, Musical Treat takes sole possession of the lead, and opens up by a length over those two. Trump Princess is content to stalk, but E Maldonado seems a little uncertain on what to do with Commanding Faith around the opening turn. She ultimately becomes second, and runs to the outside of Musical Treat. Running in the fourth position is Good Line, also from Mb Stables, and to her inside about a half length further back are Peppermint Miss (D J C Racing Stables) and Mandy Mo (Angelos Stable). Ghost Runner, out of Sizing Europe Lodge is next in line, and running in the fourth lane. Broken Chat, our eventual winner from Estero Farms, is 8th at this point, and five lengths off of the lead. She is known to come from off the pace, so the trainer had to like where she was on the track, with a sensible gap to the frontrunners here. Two lengths further back, we find the remaining three in the field, Killer Angels (TwinTowersRacing), Alligator (Maxmillion Farm), and the excessively huge longshot, Snacks, from D J C Racing Stables, is the trailer.

(3/4 Mile- 1:10.02)- Running down the backstretch, Musical Treat continues to be the race leader, but Commanding Faith is preparing to make an outside move of her, or at least so it looked right here, and they were close to being level. Good Line made a slight advance, and is now third, running a length and a half behind her stablemate, Trump Princess is to her inside, a similar distance back. Peppermint Miss starts to show some interest in moving forward at the end of the backstretch, and looks for room to split Trump Princess and Good Line. Mandy Mo and Ghost Runner hold midpack positions here, and we hadn’t seen a push from Broken Chat yet. She is still eighth, and did gain a length to now be four back. It was appearing as though some room on the rail could open up for her here as the run around the turn began to commence. Killer Angels, Alligator, and Snacks still ran together in the back.

(Top Of Stretch, 1.7F To Go)- The field begins to tighten up significantly as they make their way around the turn and approach the homestretch. Musical Treat and Commanding Faith are still in the lead, and are heads apart at this point. Third place Good Line looked for a lane to the outside of Commanding Faith, while Trump Princess moved to the outside of Musical Treat and had a great opportunity here to split the top two if she had the power in her stride to do so. Peppermint Miss continued to try to slide between Trump Princess and Good Line, but it was not a good line anymore for her, as it set her up to be blocked by Commanding Faith. Meanwhile, the rail was about as wide open as you will see it in a race like this, and I Ortiz Jr had to love what he saw in front of him for Broken Chat. As Broken Chat moved forward, she would never have to break her stride or alter her lane, and as they hit the top of the stretch there was now just two lengths to make up. Ghost Runner was trying to hang on to the pack here, but Mandy Mo was starting to drop out of it. Snacks was looking the best of the three that had been at the back, and had a good lane to make some passes, but probably not enough for the couple people in the stands that bet on her to start seeing dollar signs. Killer Angels moved up a bit, and Alligator was going to try a five-wide move into the stretch, but was looking sharp.

(Finish- 1:46.06)- With half a furlong to go, there were eight horses that you could legitimately say still had a chance to win. It was going to be a dash to the wire. Broken Chat had really used the inside lane to her advantage quite well, and her taking over the lead was not done via an emphatic charge, but moreso a gradual and methodical approach to get up just in time. Good Line was looking like a threat here too, and Musical Treat and Commanding Faith were holding strong. In the ending moments, it is Broken Chat getting up for the win with a perfect trip for a horse with her preferred racing style. Good Line runs a game second, ahead of stablemate Musical Treat. Commanding Faith and Alligator are credited with a dead heat for fourth. Alligator’s run in the stretch was certainly valiant and impressive. Snacks got pretty close too, and ends up being sixth. Next race, she might have more then about 10 people betting on her based on this effort. Ghost Runner, Peppermint Miss, and Killer Angels all ran fine and better then their ending finishing position will show. They’ll each just want better racing luck next time. Trump Princess lost some ground in the stretch, but was certainly not badly beaten. Mandy Mo rounds out the finishing order.

About The Winner- Broken Chat, trained by Estero Farms, and ridden to victory by I Ortiz Jr, is a three year old filly by Chit Chat, and is out of the late Warbling. She was bred in California by Team 7 Illusions as a second quarter two year old, and was acquired unraced by Estero Farms in private sales in June 2017 for just $17.770, showing you don’t need to spend a ton to get a quality two year old in private sales this time of year. Congratulations to the connections! The win is her fifth in nine starts, her fourth stake win, and second Graded win. It’s her first Grade 1 win. Her career earnings are now $612.000.

Track: Firm
Time: :46³  1:10   1:34   1:46

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 3 – 6 Paid 93.70
$1 Trifecta: 3 – 6 – 7 Paid 607.40

Scratched: None

— NS

Categories: Grade I, STAKES ARTICLES