She Feels Pretty Adds Blinkers for Tough QEII Cup

Lael Stables' grade 1 winner She Feels Pretty  has been made the 5-2 morning-line favorite in a deep field of 10 3-year-old fillies assembled for the $750,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes (G1T) Oct. 12 at Keeneland.

Winner of the Natalma Stakes (G1T) at Woodbine as a 2-year-old and favored when third, beaten just a half-length, in last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T), talent has never been the question for the Karakontie   filly who has won half her six career starts and never finished worse than third.

But trainer Cherie DeVaux thinks there still could be more there, and after a pair of losses at less than even money, DeVaux will add blinkers to She Feels Pretty in Saturday's invitational 1 1/8-mile turf test.

"Her last two races, she seems to be waiting on the other horses," DeVaux said. "She's a horse that works really well in the mornings, and it's hard to come up with a way to resolve that. I'm hoping the blinkers help her worry about her race and not the horses next to her. She has always shown a lot of talent and an immense amount of ability.

"She has done a lot of changing physically. She has filled out, and she's a beautiful big filly now, and that's not what she was like as a 2-year-old. We're trying to get her to take that next jump where she puts her head down and runs through the wire."

Her competition includes the filly who beat her by a neck last time in the Lake Placid Stakes (G2T) at Saratoga Race Course—Flanagan Racing's Grayosh . That Yoshida   filly is one of two entrants for trainer Chad Brown, who has won this race a record five times including in 2022 with Gina Romantica  and the previous year with Shantisara .

Brown's second entrant is Klaravich Stables' Oversubscribed . A stakes winner and never worse than second in four lifetime starts, the British-bred daughter of Too Darn Hot  most recently finished second in the Lake George Stakes (G3T) at Saratoga. Oversubscribed was hard-held early in the Lake George and rallied through traffic in the lane. She gets a rider switch to Irad Ortiz Jr. Saturday. The filly that got the jump on Oversubscribed and won the Lake George—Resolute Racing's Pounce —is back again, too.

The second and third choices on the morning line come from Europe, and they have strong company lines. Highclere Thoroughbred Racing's Soprano  won the Prix de Lieurey (G3) going a mile at Deauville Aug. 15, and most recently finished third, beaten 1 1/2 lengths in the mile Matron Stakes (G1) at Leopardstown. The Matron runner-up was Irish One Thousand Guineas (G1) winner Fallen Angel  while the winner was four-time group 1 winner Porta Fortuna , who finished second, a head in front of She Feels Pretty, in last year's Breeders' Cup.

Soprano will be ridden by 18-year-old Billy Loughnane, Britain's champion apprentice of 2023 in search of his first group/grade 1 win.

Also coming from Europe is The Aga Khan's Candala . Winner of the mile Prix de la Grotte (G3) at Longchamp this spring, the Frankel   filly most recently finished third, beaten 2 1/2 lengths, in the Prix Alec Head (G2) at Deauville. The winner, Friendly Soul , returned to beat older in the prestigious Prix de l'Opera (G1) Oct. 6 at Longchamp.

The QEII field also includes WinStar Farm and Sienna Farm's Caitlinhergrtness , an Omaha Beach   filly who beat the boys in the King's Plate Stakes, restricted to Canada-breds, last out at Woodbine going 1 1/4 miles on the all-weather track. She picks up the services of the re-emergent Frankie Dettori.

Qatar Racing's Waves of Mischief  has improved since running a distant third to She Feels Pretty in the May 17 Hilltop Stakes at Pimlico Race Course. The Into Mischief   filly trained by Brendan Walsh won the Pucker Up Stakes (G3T) at Ellis Park and most recently finished second in the Dueling Grounds Oaks Invitational Stakes at Kentucky Downs.

Three Diamonds Farm's Pin Up Betty , by Constitution  , won the June 1 Regret Stakes (G3T) at Churchill Downs, but finished fourth, 1 1/2 lengths behind third-place She Feels Pretty, in the Belmont Oaks Invitational Stakes (G1T) at Aqueduct Racetrack. Pin Up Betty also finished behind Waves of Mischief in her two most recent runs. The Mike Maker trainee picks up the services of rider Luis Saez and from the rail looks like a possible pace player in a field that is not overflowing with early speed.

Last but not least is Rigney Racing's Buchu , winner of a pair of grade 2 turf events at Keeneland—the 2023 Jessamine Stakes (G2T) and April 6 Appalachian Stakes (G2T), both of which were run on ground labeled good. Buchu, 2-for-2 at Keeneland, comes off a trip to Del Mar where she rallied to finish fourth in the Del Mar Oaks (G1T).

Lexington's forecast for Saturday is sunny and warm, and firm ground is expected.