John Velazquez scores his third stakes on the day aboard She Feels Pretty in the New York. (Susie Raisher)
By Brian Bohl
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Pity any girl who isn’t She Feels Pretty tonight. The Karakontie filly started her 4-year-old season in the same manner she capped her sophomore year – with a winner’s circle trip; this time via a half-length victory over a game Beach Bomb to capture Friday’s Grade 1, $750,000 New York presented by Rivers Casino at Saratoga Race Course.
Friday’s effort gave her four consecutive wins and a 2-for-2 mark in 2025, taking the 82nd edition of the New York for older fillies and mares going 1 3/16 miles on the Mellon turf course on the third day of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival.
The heavy 1-2 favorite, under Hall of Famer John Velazquez, stayed off 30-1 longshot Edict’s early pace in leading the seven-horse field through leisurely fractions of 24.27 seconds for the opening quarter-mile, the half in 51.30 and three-quarters in 1:17.56 over the yielding turf.
She Feels Pretty was urged up out of the turn, but Beach Bomb, under Luis Saez, showed strong determination from the inside. With the two dueling at the top of the stretch, She Feels Pretty responded to Velazquez’s urging and gained the slight advantage from the outside in the final furlong, pressing on to the wire in a 2:00.76 final time.
Beach Bomb finished four lengths clear of Bellezza for second, with Forever After All, Miwa, Edict and Gimme a Nother completing the order of finish. Immensitude was scratched.
“She was not loving it all, she is just that good that she overcomes that,” Velazquez said regarding She Feels Pretty persevering over the wet going.
She Feels Pretty won her last two races of 2024 for trainer Cherie DeVaux, capturing the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup in October at Keeneland and the Grade 1 American Oaks in December at Santa Anita, before starting her new season with a 2 1/4-length win in the Grade 3 Modesty in May at Churchill Downs.
Overall, She Feels Pretty has never finished out of the money in 10 career starts, improving to 7-1-2. She returned $3 on a $2 win bet and improved her career earnings to $1.78 million.
“Having a filly like that is super special,” DeVaux said. “I think of all things this is what she would least be wanting to do. I don’t think she likes the [soft grass] course. Johnny commented that the first time around she didn’t really tug him around there, but she’s such a professional. She just did it.”
She Feels Pretty has been a consistent contender from the outset of her career, notching wins in the Grade 1 Natalma as a 2-year-old at Woodbine ahead of a half-length third in the 2023 Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Santa Anita Park.
The last race in which she did not win was a second, by a neck, in the Grade 2 Lake Placid in her previous start at the Spa in August, and DeVaux said she decided to add blinkers following that effort. She Feels Pretty has not lost since.
“[Her last race] definitely set her up for this,” she added. “This type of turf course is very taxing. You have to have a fit horse, that’s number one. I think that’s really what got the job done.”
DeVaux said the Grade 1, $500,000 Dunkin’ Diana on July 12 at the Spa could be a possible spot to extend her winning streak.
“That was always the plan for her. As long as she comes out of this in good shape, that will be her next target,” she said.
Beach Bomb, trained by Graham Motion, won the 12-furlong Grade 3 Orchid in March at Gulfstream Park and earned runner-up status for the second consecutive race, following the 11-furlong Grade 3 Sheepshead Bay in May at the Belmont at the Big A meet. She has six wins and five second-place finishes in 15 career starts.
“She is just so game,” Motion said. “I think she wants to go a mile and a quarter. I swear that’s what she wants to do. I don’t think she’s really a mile and a half horse. I think she got away with that in Florida. She wants to go a mile and a quarter.”
Live racing resumes Saturday at Saratoga for a blockbuster Belmont Stakes Day program that includes five Grade 1 events among eight stakes in total on the 14-race card, culminating with the Grade 1, $2 million Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets [Race 13] and featuring two Breeders’ Cup “Win And You’re In” qualifiers for 3-year-olds and up: the Grade 1, $1 million Hill ‘n’ Dale Metropolitan Handicap [Race 8] going one mile out of the Wilson Chute [Dirt Mile] and the 5 1/2-furlong turf Grade 1, $500,000 Jaipur [Race 9] on the Mellon turf [Turf Sprint].
A stacked card also includes top-flight racing with the Grade 1, $500,000 Woody Stephens presented by Mohegan Sun [Race 11], and the Grade 1, $1 million Resorts World Casino Manhattan [Race 12]. The stakes action kicks off with the Grade 2, $300,000 Wonder Again [Race 6] and includes the Grade 3, $400,000 True North [Race 7] and the Grade 3, $300,000 Pennine Ridge [Race 10]. First post on Saturday is 10:45 a.m. Eastern with admission gates open to the public at 9 a.m.
