She Feels Pretty stands out in G1 New York presented by Rivers Casino

Lael Stables’ multiple Grade 1-winning millionaire She Feels Pretty brings a three-race win streak to Friday’s Grade 1, $750,000 New York presented by Rivers Casino, a 1 3/16-mile Mellon turf test for older fillies and mares on Day Three of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, at Saratoga Race Course.

The New York, slated as Race 12, is one of four Grade 1s for females on the 14-race card, including the $500,000 Ogden Phipps presented by Ford [Race 9], offering a “Win and You’re In” berth to the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff; the $500,000 DK Horse Acorn [Race 11]; and the $500,000 Just a Game presented by Resolute Racing [Race 13].

A pair of Grade 2s will complete the program, with the $300,000 Bed o’ Roses [Race 6] and the $250,000 Belmont Gold Cup [Race 10], which is a ‘Golden Ticket’ event offering the winner an automatic berth into the Group 1 Lexus Melbourne Cup worth more than AUD $8 million. First post is 11:40 a.m. Eastern with gates open to the public at 10 a.m.

Trainer Cherie DeVaux earned her first top-level score when She Feels Pretty captured the Grade 1 Natalma as a 2-year-old at Woodbine ahead of a half-length third in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita Park. 

Last year, the now 4-year-old Karakontie chestnut was a three-quarter length third to the victorious Cinderella’s Dream in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational in July at Belmont at the Big A and a neck second to Grayosh in the Spa’s Grade 2 Lake Placid in August.

DeVaux said that following the Lake Placid effort, she had a conversation with She Feels Pretty’s Hall of Fame rider John Velazquez on how to fine tune the filly’s talents and decided to add blinkers to her repertoire.

“We just felt like there was more in there to give, so we tried blinkers and that seems to have been the key. She really responded well,” DeVaux said.

The improvement was marked by She Feels Pretty adding two more Grade 1s to her ledger with scores in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup in October at Keeneland and the American Oaks in December at Santa Anita. The Keeneland effort earned She Feels Pretty a career-best 100 Beyer Speed Figure as she kicked away to a six-length score.

She Feels Pretty made her seasonal debut on May 2 at Churchill Downs while racing from a more than four-month layoff in the nine-furlong Grade 3 Modesty. There, she tracked from third position as Segesta and Birdie Rose dueled through three-quarters in 1:10.73. She made a three-wide bid into the lane and again showed her tremendous turn-of-foot en route to a 2 1/4-length victory over returning rival Gimme a Nother in a course record 1:45.51.

"It was very workmanlike. She set a track record which was amazing since we were just getting a race into her,” DeVaux said. “We’re happy with her and she came out of that in good order. Hopefully, she takes a step forward here.”

She Feels Pretty will now look to earn her first Grade 1 against elders as she headlines a strong field of eight. She will carry a co-field high 124 pounds when exiting the outermost post in rein to Velazquez, who DeVaux trusts implicitly to engineer a winning trip.

“It always depends on how the pace is. She has good tactical speed. It just depends on how the race unfolds from the beginning of the race,” DeVaux said.

The $240,000 purchase from the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale is out of the winning New York-bred More Than Ready mare Summer Sweet – a half-sister to graded stakes-placed Adirondack Summer and stakes-winner Summer Breezing. She has banked in excess of $1.3 million via a 9-6-1-2 record with wins ranging from 5 1/2-furlongs to 1 1/4-miles.

“She's a big, strong filly,” DeVaux said. “She's progressed really well. Since she started her career, she's stepped up every year and every race. Hopefully, she continues in that trajectory as she continues on with her racing career.”

Trainer Graham Motion will send out a formidable pair of South African-bred mares in Gimme a Nother [post 3, Jose Ortiz, 124 pounds] and Beach Bomb [post 7, Luis Saez, 124 pounds].

Newstead Stables’ Gimme a Nother, a 5-year-old Gimmethegreenlight bay, went undefeated in seven starts at Turffontein in her native South Africa for trainer Michael de Kock topped by Group 1 wins in the South Africa Fillies Classic and Empress Club last year. 

She made her stateside debut from a nearly one-year layoff in March at Tampa Bay Downs, closing to finish a three-quarter length second to Saffron Moon in the nine-furlong Grade 2 Hillsborough. Last out, she rallied from last-of-6 in the Modesty to complete the exacta behind She Feels Pretty.

“I kind of hate to run against her [She Feels Pretty] again, but I think off the last race, she deserves a chance in here,” said Motion, who won this event back-to-back with Mean Mary in 2020-21.

Cayton Park Stud’s Beach Bomb, a 5-year-old Lancaster Bomber bay, won four times in South Africa led by Group 1 scores in the 2023 Cape Fillies Guineas and the Paddock, a Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” event, last January for conditioner Candice Leigh Bass-Robinson.

Six months after finishing second in the Group 1 Cape Derby at Kenilworth, Beach Bomb returned to action in August 2024 to finish a closing second in 1 1/16-mile Violet at Monmouth Park in her first start for Motion. Beach Bomb broke through in her fourth U.S. start with a change of tactics by wiring the 11-furlong Grade 3 The Very One in her seasonal debut on March 1 at Gulfstream Park. She replicated that effort in the 12-furlong Grade 3 Orchid on March 29 at Gulfstream, besting Silvology by a head.

Beach Bomb enters from a prominent second to returning rival Bellezza in the 11-furlong Grade 3 Sheepshead Bay on May 2 at Belmont at the Big A. She will make her first start in a Grade 1 since her eighth-place effort in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf in November at Del Mar when 3 1/2-lengths back of the victorious Moira.

“I think she would appreciate another sixteenth of a mile, but I believe she deserves another shot in a Grade 1,” Motion said. “She has moved forward with time. We had to push her a little bit to make the Breeders’ Cup and couldn’t miss a race. After that, I just wanted her to collect herself and she hasn’t missed a beat since.

“She’s very straightforward, easy to manage and easy to train and she’s a kind, nice filly to be around,” Motion added. “She’s a galloper and likes to run a little more like that [on the front] and doesn’t have a huge turn-of-foot. From her runs in Florida, you can assume she loves the firm ground.” 

Moyglare Stud Farm’s Bellezza [post 6, Flavien Prat, 120 pounds] made her U.S. debut a memorable one in the Sheepshead Bay, powering away to a 1 1/2-length score for the late trainer Christophe Clement.

Now trained by Clement’s son, Miguel Clement, the 4-year-old Siyouni bay made her first seven starts in her native Ireland for trainer Ger Lyons, topped by a rallying neck score in the 10-furlong Listed Diamond on September 27 over the Dundalk synthetic.

She hit the board in a trio of Listed turf stakes last summer when second in both the 1 5/8-miles Yeats at Navan and 10-furlong Naas Oaks Trial ahead of a three-quarter length third in the 12-furlong Marble City at Gowran Park.

Bellezza has worked back twice since her impressive Sheepshead Bay coup, including a five-eighths breeze in 59.80 over the Oklahoma training turf on May 30.

The talented bay is out of the Listed stakes-placed Galileo mare Terrific, a full-sister to the Aidan O’Brien-trained Together, who captured the 2011 Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland.

Dixiana Farms’ Kentucky homebred Forever After All [post 1, Irad Ortiz, Jr., 120 pounds] has finished first or second in five of her last six starts led by a geared-down nine-length romp last out in the 12-furlong Grade 3 Bewitch over yielding footing in April at Keeneland.

Trained by Brendan Walsh, the 6-year-old Connect mare has banked $782,454 through a 24-4-10-2 record. Her recent run of form includes a nose win in the 12-furlong Grade 3 La Prevoyante in January at Gulfstream Park and a pair of narrow losses with a nose second in the Grade 3 Dowager in October at Keeneland and a neck second in the Listed Via Borghese in December at Gulfstream.

Forever After All, out of the graded stakes-placed Giant’s Causeway mare Julia Tuttle, is a half-sister to multiple graded stakes-winning millionaire Tom’s d’Etat.

Rounding out a talented field are the David Donk-trained Edict [post 5, Manny Franco, 118 pounds], a dual Group 1-winner in her native Argentina; Group 3-winner Immensitude [post 2, Junior Alvarado, 118 pounds] for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott; and two-time winner Miwa [post 4, Dylan Davis, 118 pounds] for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher.

America’s Day at the Races will present daily coverage and analysis of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.belmontstakes.com/event-info/tv-schedule. 

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