Didia Returns to Colonial Downs For Beverly D.

For many of the favorites competing in the Aug. 12 Beverly D. Stakes (G1T) at Colonial Downs, proficiency over the local turf course has not yet been determined.

Not so with well-traveled Didia . A dual group 1 winner in her native Argentina, she began racing in the United States last year and triumphed in two races at Colonial Downs in an allowance optional claiming race and the Old Nelson Stakes.

Since that time, trainer Ignacio "Nacho" Correas has taken the 5-year-old Orpen  mare across the country, winning the March 25 Tom Benson Memorial Stakes at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots and the May 5 Modesty Stakes (G3T) at Churchill Downs before running second to a loose-on-the-lead Marketsegmentation  in the June 9 New York Stakes (G1T) at Belmont Park.

Now comes her return to Colonial, where her familiarity with the course could give her an edge against fellow top contenders Fev Rover  and Gina Romantica  in what will be a six-horse, $500,000 race for older fillies and mares. (Rocky Sky  was cross-entered in a Friday allowance at Saratoga Race Course, in which she finished second, and will scratch from the Beverly D.)

Vincent Cheminaud will be aboard Merriebelle Stable's Didia.

"She is doing very well coming into this race and it has been a race we have been pointing to for the season," Correas said. "We know it isn't always an easy task, but she is a (group 1) winner in her native Argentina and we are trying to get her one here in America, too."

Besides the rich purse on the line, up for grabs is more opportunity. The Beverly D. is part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In, providing an automatic paid berth into the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1T) Nov. 4 at Santa Anita Park.

Didia is not the only group/grade 1 winner in the lineup. Gina Romantica scored last fall in Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes (G1T) at Keeneland at age 3. The Peter Brant-owned filly ran fourth in the June 17 Eatontown Stakes (G3T) at Monmouth Park in her lone start of 2023 for trainer Chad Brown.

Gina Romantica stretches out in distance to race 1 3/16 miles in the Beverly D. with Flavien Prat aboard the filly by Into Mischief  .

Brown is a six-time winner of the Beverly D., dominating it over its final decade as a longtime Arlington International Racecourse stakes race. Churchill Downs Inc. sold Arlington in 2021 to the Chicago Bears of the National Football League and staged the race last summer at Churchill Downs. This year, CDI opted to move the Beverly D. and two other major Arlington races, the Arlington Million (G1T) and Secretariat Stakes (G2T), to Colonial, which CDI bought last fall. 

Fev Rover  has not yet captured a group or grade 1 but illustrated her top-level legitimacy with a close third behind Whitebeam  and In Italian  in the Diana Stakes (G1T) last month at Saratoga Race Course. She has won group/grade 2s in Canada and France and was third in the 2021 One Thousand Guineas (G1) in Great Britain.

After her import from Europe, the daughter of Gutaifan  is 2-1-2 in five starts in North America in 2022-23 for Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse. Javier Castellano rides.

Other entries include Jan's Girl  and Mise En Scene , two recent second-level allowance optional claiming winners, and Romagna Mia , a group 2 winner in Italy who ran fourth in a minor French stakes race last out. Mise En Scene was a group 3 winner earlier in her career.