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 23, 2016

The first Saturday of the SAR meet saw a dead heat in its featured race, the 12th running of the Grade 1 Diana Stakes.  The great Attraction, trained by Mm Racing, finally was able to include her name on the list of past winners that includes the likes of Darling Harbour, Miz Liz, and A Little Oblivion, after she finished second in this race last year.   She will have company on that list for this year, as three year old Lucky You, who ran in an $8.5000 claimer as recently as this February, joined her in the winner’s circle after race.  Lucky You was purchased in private sales by Rouge River Stables, who started running her long for the first time, and it’s safe to say the results have been pretty good.  The paths of Attraction and Lucky You have been very different to get here, but today, there is no separating them.  Congratulations to both of our winners!  Each trainer earned their first win in the stake.  For J J Castellano, Attraction’s rider, it is his second winner and second straight, to boot.  D Moran, the rider of Lucky You who doesn’t often find himself at SAR, it was a great trip south of the border for his first Diana win.

1st- 1 (dh)- Attraction (5/2)- The legendary mare from Mm Racing did not initially push towards the front in the same way that her co-winner did.  Instead, she seemed to break conservatively out of the gate, and gradually inch her way closer to the leaders as they moved around the first turn.  By the time they hit the back stretch, she was within a half length of the leader while running comfortably along the rail.  Maintained a good cruising speed throughout the backstretch, and passed Vertigineux by the time they began moving around the turn.  At the top of the stretch, it seemed like she was going to be beaten by both Lucky You and Dragonville.  But then, she showed the heart of a BC Champion.  In the final furlong, particularly, J J Castellano kept urging her to keep having at it and giving it her all.   Attraction needed to find yet another gear, and somehow, she would.  She became resurgent, and in all out drive she would get up to the wire at the exact same time in which Lucky You would.  She would earn the win, in the dead heat with this amazing effort!  Attraction is a five year old mare by Pure Steel and out of Lucky 4 U. (Interesting name for the dam considering her dead heat partner here).  She was bred in California by Mb Stables as a third quarter two year old, who let this one get away.   She was purchased, unraced, by Mm Racing in the September 2013 auction for just $49.000.  Safe to say that turned out well. Congratulations to the connections!

1st- 6 (dh)- Lucky You (7/2)- Our first-time graded stake winner broke well out of the gate for Rouge River Stables, but was content to let Vertigineux be the one to take the lead.  D Moran backed Lucky You off about a length around the opening turn, to the outside of the pacesetter.  While in the backstretch, she would have the best run of the lead three, and emerge with the lead as they as they prepared to round the final turn.  By the end of the turn, she long but left Vertigineux in her dust, and it seemed like Dragonville was going to be her bigger concern.  She drifted out a little bit on exit of the turn, and while that might have help her with Dragonville, it likely did cost her the win outright.  In the stretch, she did all that she could, and it would be enough to win, albeit in a dead heat!  Quite a step forward she has made now that she can run longer on the turf, and we’ll be hearing her name a lot more! Lucky You is a three year old filly by Double Luc (our friend Lucy Van Pelt is in the blood) and out of Fusion Girl. She was bred in Kentucky by Delta Farms as a third quarter two year old.  After bouncing around, she found a home with Rouge River Stables in private sales for $80.000, who has her pointed in the right direction now.  Congratulations to the connections!

3rd- 3- Dragonville (3/1)-   The Drabfantasy entry was right there with the leaders as well at the start.  She looked to assume a stalking position behind the leader, but when Lucky You backed off just a tad and Attraction crept up along the rail, Dragonville found herself between them, a half or so length behind them.  Maintained this position for the run around the backstretch trip, and it was clear that R Bejararno was going to have no choice but to make a four wide move, and he wasted no time in committing to it as the run around the turn began.  Dragonville responded with an all out drive, and did everything she could.  Lucky You forced her over a couple more lanes in the process to hold her off.  In the end, Drabfantasy gets a hard earned third place run.

4th- 5- Vertigineux (7/1)- Broke sharply out of the gate for D J C Racing Stables.  Matched strides with Lucky You on the approach to the turn, but would pull away from her a bit as that one opted to back off just a little bit.  She would set the opening half mile in :47.42.  Continued to lead for about half the backstretch trip, but would be passed by both Lucky You and Attraction before they reached the turn.  At the top of the stretch, it was evident that she would not be able to keep up with the leaders, and she backed out of contention, though still gets a check.

5th- 4- Eastern Sweetness (8/1)- While all the racing was going on ahead of her, the Mb Stables filly had no interest in being up there, and instead was about four and a half lengths from the lead early on.  During the backstretch, we still had not seen any attempt to advance.  We did not see that at any point thereafter, either.  If she had any kind of run in her saved up, she has no excuse for not at least getting by Vertigineux.

6th- 2- Rose of Glamorgan (2/1)- The Hawaiian Shirt Guy entry went directly to the back right from the gate, and could see them all in front of her around the opening turn.  Content to watch those in front of her for the entire backstretch portion, the final turn, and all the way up to the finish line.

Track: Firm
Time: :47²  1:10²  1:33⁴  1:45⁴

$2 Mutuel Prices:

$1 Exacta: 1 – 6 Paid 12.60, 6 – 1 Paid 23.10
$1 Trifecta: 1 – 6 – 3 Paid 31.40, 6 – 1 – 3 Paid 56.10

Scratched: None

— NS

Categories: Grade I, STAKES ARTICLES