‘She Knows How To Win’: Rushing Fall Gives Brown Fifth Consecutive Diana Triumph

Trainer Chad Brown continued his domination in the Grade 1, $500,000 Diana, watching as 7-5 favorite Rushing Fall ran down pace setter Mean Mary approaching the stretch and held off her rival by a neck on Sunday at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

Brown won the 1 1/8-mile turf contest for older fillies and mares for the fifth consecutive year and record sixth overall as e Five Racing Thoroughbreds' Rushing Fall was forwardly placed by Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano, who kept her just off Mean Mary in second position through the opening quarter-mile in 23.60 seconds, the half in 48.38 and three-quarters in 1:11.90 on the firm inner turf course.

Out of the final turn, Rushing Fall made a strong move to challenge Mean Mary from the outside, with the rivals dueling in the straightaway before Rushing Fall gained the slight edge and hit the wire in 1:45.88, capturing her third consecutive graded stakes victory.

“The plan was to go to the lead. I broke out of the gate and tried to send to dictate the pace, but Mean Mary never took up and tried to take the lead,” Castellano said. “I tried to ride smart, it's a mile and an eighth and I thought it was smarter to save something for the end. Today, we were very fortunate.

“I rode her like she was the best filly in the race,” he added. “She's very tactical. She doesn't have to be on the lead, she can come from behind also, but I didn't see much other speed in the race, so we tracked the other filly every single step of the way and when I asked her, she responded. She knows how to win. I'm so lucky to ride her because she's one of the best fillies I've rode in my life.”

Rushing Fall notched her sixth career Grade 1 victory and won for the 11th time in 14 career starts overall and has been a Grade 1-winner at ages 2, 3, 4 and 5.

The 5-year-old More Than Ready mare, who won the 2017 Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, improved to 3-for-3 in 2020, adding to her scores in the Grade 3 Beaugay in June at Belmont Park and the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley last month at Keeneland.

Brown won the Diana's previous two editions with Sistercharlie, who defeated Rushing Fall by 1 3/4 lengths last year to give their trainer the exacta. On Sunday, Rushing Fall won for the second time in three career starts at the Spa, returning $4.80 on a $2 win wager and improving her career earnings to $2.55 million.

“It means a lot. This is a very important race that we point for every year and we've been fortunate through the years to have horses that really fit,” said Brown, who also won the Diana with Lady Eli [2017], Dacita [2016] and Zagora [2011]. “She's a great horse and she ran a super race today.”

Brown praised Rushing Fall's superlative 2020 campaign after finishing fourth in the Grade 1 First Lady in October at Keeneland.

“She knows how to win. She's a remarkable horse,” Brown said. “This is a horse that has won Grade 1s in four straight years. This is very rare company to do this. She's a horse of a lifetime for anybody – for an owner, for a trainer, for racing. We're very fortunate that [owner] Bob Edwards put her back in training. Her last race of the year last year was not good, she's worth a lot of money and they could easily have sold her and bred her. They gave her the time off and we sent her down to Stonestreet in Ocala like we do every winter where they do a fantastic job and then my team got a hold of her and took it from there. They executed like they always have, and the filly really came through. She's special.”

Alex G. Campbell, Jr.'s Mean Mary, the 2-1 second choice, finished 2 ½ lengths ahead of Sistercharlie for second. That marked the sixth time trainer Graham Motion has saddled the Diana runner-up, adding to a string of near-misses that includes Ultra Brat losing by a nose to Sistercharlie in 2018 and Quidura [2017], Shared Account [2010], and Sweet Talker [2006] all losing by a head. Aruna was beaten 1 ½ lengths for second in 2011.

“I got nice fractions early and then at the half-mile we started to get going,” said Mean Mary jockey Luis Saez. “Everyone came to me and she fought them. She got beat running.”

Sistercharlie, the 2018 Eclipse Award winner as Champion Turf Female, saw her bid to become the first three-peat winner of the Diana thwarted but still finished in third to earn blacktype for the 15th consecutive start. Brown said he's hopeful the effort prepares her for a return engagement in the Grade 1, $2 million Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf on November 7 at Keeneland.

“I thought she took a nice step forward towards the Breeders' Cup today,” Brown said. “This course is very speed-favoring. It's hard to imagine a scenario, no matter what the pace is, where she is going to be able to make up that much ground. It's just the way it's played all meet.

“I can see her rounding into form right at the right time,” he added. “I was disappointed that she wasn't right there at the wire but not discouraged that can't get on track for the Breeders' Cup. It's a good step forward.”

Starship Jubilee and Call Me Love completed the order of finish. Secret Message, also conditioned by Motion, was scratched at the gate.

Live racing resumes Wednesday at Saratoga with a nine-race card that features the $85,000 Mahony for sophomores going 5 ½ furlongs on turf in Race 7 at 4:12 p.m. First post is 12:50 p.m with an allowance steeplechase race.

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Sistercharlie Shooting For Third Straight Diana

The list of horses that have won the GI Diana S. on multiple occasions reads like a veritable horse racing Hall of Fame: Miss Grillo, Tempted, Shuvee, Glowing Honor and Forever Together have all accomplished the feat. Peter Brant’s Sistercharlie (Ire) (Myboycharlie {Ire}) can ascend to the top of that classy heap as she goes for the three-peat Sunday afternoon at Saratoga, but a fait accompli is most certainly is not.

The 2018 champion turf female made best use of her superior turn of foot to easily defeat her stablemate and TDN Rising Star Rushing Fall (More Than Ready) in this event last summer, then became the first to win the GI Beverly D. S. back-to-back last August. The deceptively easy winner of the GI Flower Bowl S. in October, she was third in defense of her GI Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf title Nov. 2 and could do no better than to round out the trifecta behind Starship Jubilee (Indy Wind) and Call Me Love (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}) in the GII Ballston Spa S. July 25.

Rushing Fall’s defeat last year was just the second of her career and while she was only fourth to Uni (GB) (More Than Ready) in the GI First Lady S. at Keeneland when forced to race off the speed, she has been dominant in two starts this term, besting Call Me Love in front-running fashion in the GIII Beaugay S. June 3 ahead of a 3/4-length success over Jolie Olimpica (Brz) (Drosselmeyer) in the GI Jenny Wiley S. in Lexington July 11, though Sunday’s nine-furlong trip remains a question mark. Her two wins at the distance came in age-restricted company in 2018.

Starship Jubilee returns to the Spa, having passed on the GII Dance Smartly S. at her Woodbine base last weekend. The former $16,000 claimer enters the Diana on a three-race streak, having annexed the GIII Suwannee River S. at Gulfstream and the GII Hillsborough S. at Tampa over the winter.

Mean Mary (Scat Daddy), five-for-seven lifetime, figures to make Rushing Fall work for it up front. The Alex Campbell homebred has not been headed in her last three trips to the race, good for victories in the 12-furlong GIII La Prevoyante S. at Gulfstream in January, the GIII Orchid S. over a mile and three furlongs Mar. 28 and a the 10-panel GII New York S. downstate June 27.

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‘One Of Those Races You Aspire To Win’: Motion Readying Mean Mary, Secret Message For Diana

Trainer Graham Motion has reached the heights of the sport, winning four Breeders' Cup races along with the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby. But the Diana, for older fillies and mares on turf at Saratoga, is one prestigious race that has eluded him.

After saddling the runner-up finisher on five occasions, Motion will look to break through, sending out two contenders in Mean Mary and Secret Message in Sunday's 82nd running of the Grade 1, $500,000 Diana going 1 1/8 miles on the Mellon turf course.

Motion has come as close as possible to training the winner of the Diana without having a horse cross the wire first, with Ultra Brat losing by a nose to Sistercharlie in 2018. Quidura (2017), Shared Account (2010), and Sweet Talker (2006) all lost by a head, while Aruna was beaten 1 1/2 lengths in a second-place effort in 2011.

Even before his training career, Motion experienced bad beats in the Diana. Working for trainer Jonathan Sheppard, Motion was the exercise rider of the filly Wooing, who as a 32-1 shot finished first in the race in 1989 but was disqualified for interference and placed behind Glowing Honor.

“Since I've worked for Jonathan Sheppard, it's been a race I've always pointed horses towards,” Motion said. “I even galloped a filly that got disqualified in this race, so it's been a bit of a nemesis for me. It's one of those races that you aspire to win. It's a race that has amazing history and with me training turf horses, and specifically turf fillies, it's always been a race that I've wanted to try and win and try to compete in every year.”

Motion's contenders make up one-third of the small-but-accomplished six-horse field that features the Chad Brown-trained duo of 3-2 favorite Rushing Fall and Sistercharlie [5-2], who will be looking to become the first horse in the Diana's history to win it three consecutive years.

Alex G. Campbell, Jr.'s Mean Mary drew the outside post with Luis Saez aboard. Listed at 3-1, she enters 3-for-3 in her 4-year-old campaign and with four consecutive wins overall dating to a December victory over optional claimers at Gulfstream Park.

In her 2020 bow, she wired a 10-horse field going 1 ½ miles to win the Grade 3 La Prevoyante by five lengths in January at Gulfstream and again won over the track in the 1 3/8-mile Grade 3 Orchid in March. Last out, she was shortened to 1 ¼ miles and responded with a stellar 5 ¼-length score in the Grade 2 New York that netted Mean Mary her first career triple digit Beyer Speed Figure at 101.

Since making her debut running fifth on dirt in September, Mean Mary has won five of her six turf starts and came in second in the other; a one-mile allowance contest in November at Aqueduct Racetrack.

“She impressed me when she broke her maiden and she's just continued to improve,” Motion said. “When she ran in the stake the first time [the La Prevoyante], it was more about the races that were available to her, and I just had a feeling she'd handle the extra distance and she handled it well.”

After proving she likes longer distances, Motion said the 1 1/8-mile Diana will be a good indicator as he prepares her for a potential start in the Grade 1, $2 million Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf at 1 3/16-miles in November at Keeneland.

“She's been pointing to this race for a long time,” Motion said. “With the Breeders' Cup, I need to find out if she can handle these shorter distances. She certainly did before we started running her at these longer races, but not at this level. She's trained really well for this race and hasn't really missed a beat.”

Secret Message, owned by Madaket Stables, Heider Family Stables, ERJ Racing, Elayne Stables Five and Steve Bouchey, is the longest shot on the board in the Diana at 20-1, drawing post 2 with Irad Ortiz, Jr. aboard.

The 5-year-old daughter of Hat Trick is also coming off a short turnaround after running third in last week's Perfect Sting at the Spa. After running sixth in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley on July 11 at Keeneland, won by Rushing Fall, Secret Message earned blacktype in the 1 1/16-mile Perfect Sting on August 14 and will wheel right back.

“The racing this year has been different because it's come up so competitive even though it's listed races,” Motion said. “We feel like we haven't been able to run her as much as we normally would. The fact that she's a big, robust filly; we felt she could handle a quick turnaround. She really ran the last quarter-mile last weekend and really sprinted home. She sprinted home as fast as anyone.”

Motion is approaching 2,500 career wins [2,477 entering Friday] and won the 2011 Grade 1 Kentucky Derby with Animal Kingdom, who also ran second in that year's Grade 1 Preakness. He has earned placing in the other two American Classics, saddling runner-up Irish War Cry in the 2017 Grade 1 Belmont Stakes and Icabad Crane to a third-place effort in the 2008 Preakness. He won last year's Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf with Sharing and is a two-time winner of the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Turf with Main Sequence (2014) and Better Talk Now (2004). Shared Account won the 2010 Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf.

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Half-Brother To Rising Turf Star Mean Mary, Bye Bye Melvin Keeps To Grass In Saturday’s Kent Stakes

Otter Bend's Gufo tops the $125,000 Grade III Kent Stakes at Delaware Park this Saturday. The mile-and-an-eighth grass affair has attracted a field of eight 3-year-olds. The Kent has been carded as the ninth race with an approximate post time of 5:15 p.m.

Gufo will try to extend his current winning streak to four. The Kentucky-bred trained by Christophe Clement, started his career with a third in an Aqueduct turf maiden on November 17. The son of Declaration of War followed with three successive turf victories all at Gulfstream Park. On December 29, he broke his maiden by a nose going a mile and a sixteenth. He followed with a half-length triumph in a mile and an eighth allowance on March 27. In his most recent, he won the mile and a sixteenth $75,000 English Channel Stakes on May 2. He has career earnings of $102,510.

Trainer H. Graham Motion has entered Alex Campbell Jr.'s Bye Bye Melvin who has a career record of two wins and a third from six starts with earnings of $32,840. In his most recent, the son of Uncle Mo was unplaced in the mile and a sixteenth $400,000 Grade II Tampa Bay Derby on March 7. His previous two efforts, on the grass at Tampa Bay Downs, tell the real story of the Kentucky-bred. On December 7, he broke his maiden going a mile and a sixteenth by 8 ¼-lengths and then he followed with a ¾-length score in a one mile allowance on January 8.

“He had two solid turf victories at Tampa over the winter,” said trainer H. Graham Motion. “But, we thought he breezed really well on the dirt, so we decided to run him in the Tampa Bay Derby. After the Tampa Bay Derby, we are excited to get him back on the grass. He is a half-brother to Mean Mary, so we think he has a bright future on the grass.”

Mean Mary has a career turf record of five wins and a second including victories this year in the Grade III La Prevoyante and Grade III Orchid at Gulfstream Park and Grade II New York at Belmont Park.

$125,000 Grade III Kent Stakes

For 3-year-olds

at a mile-and-an-eighth (turf)

# HORSE OWNER TRAINER JOCKEY Wg OD
1 Talking Augustin Stable Jonathan Thomas Daniel Centeno 118 12-1
2 On Base Robert LaPenta, Bridlewoo Jonathan Thomas TBD 118 15-1
3 Pixelate Godolphin Michael Stidham Angel Suarez 118 3-1
4 Bye Bye Melvin Alex Campbell Jr. H. Graham Motion Feargal Lynch 118 6-1
5 Me and Mr. C Stonehedge Edward Allard Carol Cedeno 118 8-1
6 Gufo Otter Bend Stables Christophe Clement Trevor McCarthy 118 5/2
7 Sunsation Newtown Anner Stud Kelsey Danner Joe Bravo 118 6-1
8 Vanzzy Daniel Ryan Michael Pino Mychel Sanchez 118 4-1

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