Whitebeam Upsets In Italian, Brown Gets Eighth Diana

Emotions were pulling trainer Chad Brown in all kinds of directions as he sat in a clubhouse box seat during the 85th running of the $485,500 Diana Stakes (G1T) at Saratoga Race Course. 

Four of the five runners in the first grade 1 of the Saratoga meet came from his barn. The big gal of the bunch, Peter Brant’s In Italian , came into the race sitting on top of the division. 

Most of those basking in the humid air on a sun-soaked July 15 expected the 5-year-old mare to run away from the other four. She almost did.

In Italian and jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. led for every step of the 1 1/8-mile race except for the last one. The gray daughter of Dubawi , the 1-5 favorite, got caught at the wire and lost to stablemate Whitebeam  by a nose.

This was the first loss of the year for In Italian in her third start. She came into the Diana having won seven of her 11 career starts, all of them in front-running fashion.

Even though he did not win the Diana with the horse that was expected to get it done, Brown still won the race for a record eighth time, with all of those wins coming since 2011.

“You hate to see a horse that is on such a winning streak—and the leader of the division—get it snapped,” Brown said in the winner’s circle. “She really ran too good to lose.”

Whitebeam, a Juddmonte homebred, was sent off at odds of over 7-1, making her the longest price of the Brown quartet. This was the second straight year Brown had run four horses in the Diana and won it with the one with the largest odds; In Italian won it in 2022 at 8-1.

In Italian broke well and set the early fractions of :23.96, :48 and 1:11.86. She was tracked by the only non-Brown trained horse, Fev Rover , from Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse. Whitebeam ($17.60), ridden by Flavien Prat, was right behind and the two made their move on the far turn.

“You have to respect In Italian,” said Prat, who rode Whitebeam for the first time. “When you turn for home and you’ve kept up with her, you don’t know if you’ll be able to go by her, but my filly was really brave and she’s been improving.”

Brown said the one thing that worried him about In Italian was soft turf. Even though the Mellon Turf was labeled “firm,” there was some give in it after heavy rain July 13. This was Whitebeam's first grade 1 attempt.

The winner, a 4-year-old daughter of Caravaggio  bred in Great Britain, made her third start for Brown since Juddmonte sent her to him following five starts in England and one in France. She is the lone stakes winner produced from her dam, the Oasis Dream  mare Sleep Walk .

In her first start for Brown, she was second in the April 16 Plenty of Grace Stakes at Aqueduct Race Track, getting beat by a nose, and then won the Gallorette Stakes (G3T) at Pimlico Race Course May 20.

“I was shocked she got beat the first time, to be honest,” Brown said. “I’m so fortunate Juddmonte sent me this horse in excellent shape. The first time I breezed her, I called Garrett O’Rourke (general manager of Juddmonte) in Kentucky and I just thanked him repeatedly for sending me the horse.”

Fev Rover held third and was followed by Brown’s two other entries, Marketsegmentation  and Fluffy Socks . The final time was 1:48.33.