The Diana is the first Grade 1 race of the Saratoga season. For the last eight editions of the Diana, trainer Chad Brown won every year but one when Appleby won with a Euro shipper. It is arguably his race to win each year as he dominates the entries. However, this is a larger Diana field than what we've seen recently. For context, Brown had all but one entry in last year's installment of the race with Mark Casse entering FEV ROVER as the lone filly to run against the Brown barn of top turf fillies. There are ten horses entered in the race this year and five are trained by Brown. Fifty percent of the field seems like fabulous odds. Except he doesn't even have the favorite in the race.
Favoritism on the morning line went to DIDIA (ARG). I was amazed that she went off 9-1 in the Grade 1 New York and she won quite easily. There's an iconic photo of Jose Ortiz posing for the camera right at the finish line. I'll link it here later. If I can. I think she'll be tough.
Now to Brown's horses. CHILI FLAG (FR) will take a lot of money. I think she will probably be the favorite going into the gates. But we all know "The Other Chad" often pulls off the minor upset. In 2022, IN ITALIAN upset BLEEKER STREET and in 2023, WHITEBEAM (GB) upset IN ITALIAN. I searched for "The Other Chad" in this year's race and landed on FLUFFY SOCKS. She had a fabulous win down at Pimlico back in May. Here's an interesting note... she is the only Brown runner in the race who is not training routinely in Saratoga but down at Belmont Park. I just think she's sitting on a big race to follow up her Grade 3 victory in Maryland and today is the day to take a shot on FLUFFY SOCKS.