Excellent Truth gives Brown 10th Diana win

Trainer Chad Brown retained a firm grip on the $485,000 Diana (G1) at Saratoga on Saturday, when Excellent Truth bravely out battled odds-on favorite She Feels Pretty to win the nine-furlong turf fixture for fillies and mares by a head.

It was the fourth consecutive win in the Diana for Brown, who has now won nine of the past 10 renewals. His first win in the Diana occurred in 2011 with champion Zagora.

Brown stated earlier in the week that Excellent Truth had been an unlucky second in her two prior U.S. appearances, the Jenny Wiley (G1) at Keeneland and Just a Game (G1) at Saratoga, both of which she was favored to win. Her trip in the 1 1/8-mile Diana, contested on ground rated good, was far smoother.

Tracking in second behind Jenny Wiley winner Choisya most of the way, Excellent Truth bid for the lead in the upper stretch along with She Feels Pretty, who made a three-wide bid from third. Although She Feels Pretty poked her head in front with a furlong to go, Excellent Truth dug in on her inside to reclaim the lead approaching the wire under Flavien Prat.

"I think you could argue with a cleaner trip; she could be 3-for-3 in the country," Brown said. "We felt in her last couple of races, she was probably a little further back [than optimal]. As Flavien 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."

Excellent Truth finished up in 1:47.37 and returned $8 as the second choice in the field of five. She's owned by John Stewart's Resolute Racing.

Four-time Grade 1 winner She Feels Pretty, suffering her first setback since adding blinkers last fall following a similar odds-on loss at Saratoga in the Lake Placid (G2), had 4 1/2 lengths on the Brown-trained Dynamic Pricing, the Just a Game heroine. Choisya weakened to fourth, while Lady Claypoole trailed throughout.

Excellent Truth is a five-year-old Irish-bred daughter of Cotal Glory. The Diana was her fifth win in 14 career starts and her third stakes score following the 2023 Prix de Psyche (G3) and 2024 Prix Goldikova, both at Deauville.

Following a second in the Prix Rothschild (G1) at Deauville last July, Excellent Truth was imported and sent to Brown to train.

"I was so happy when she showed up in our barn at Payson this winter," Brown said. "She has never had a bad day. She deserved the win today."