Whitebeam in thrilling Diana victory

Juddmonte homebred Whitebeam gave Chad Brown a record-extending eighth win in the Grade 1 Diana Stakes at Saratoga on Saturday.

Taken from the Thoroughbred Daily News, 16th July 2023:

It was no surprise to see trainer Chad Brown standing in the winner's circle after saddling four out of the five runners in Saturday's Grade 1 Diana Stakes, including the race's defending winner and imposing 1-4 favourite In Italian. It was the longest-priced runner of the Brown-trained quartet, Whitebeam, however, who gave Brown his eighth win in the Diana with an upset nose victory at nearly 8-1 over the aforementioned chalk in Saturday's feature at the Spa.

"It's a very big part of our annual schedule," Brown said of the Diana. "We circle this race early on and through the years, I've had so many nice fillies sent to me and my team from all over."

Whitebeam, a three-time winner and narrow runner-up in Newmarket's Listed Rosemary Stakes for Harry and Roger Charlton during her six-race campaign overseas at three, made two
prior starts for Brown this term. The grey came up just a neck short while making her U.S. debut off the bench in the Plenty of Grace Stakes at Aqueduct in April, then ran to the money as the heavy favourite in a live renewal of the Gr.3 Gallorette Stakes at Pimlico on 20th May.

Drawn widest of all in post five in the Diana, Whitebeam raced on the outside in third as In Italian, as expected, led through fractions of :23.96 and :48.00 over the going listed as firm. Whitebeam set her sights on her stablemate at the top of the stretch, and, after a long drive, just got up by the slimmest of margins to give Brown a one-two finish. It was a half-length back to the Mark Casse-trained Fev Rover in third.

"It was really tight there and In Italian ran her heart out," Brown said. "I think the turf's pretty soft and she was going pretty quick there. Whitebeam, she ran just a little bit better today and was able to handle the soft ground and showed a lot of heart late. [Whitebeam] trained as good as [any] in my top handful of horses all winter at Payson Park. I was shocked she got beat first time out [in the U.S.] to be honest. She trained really well and I'm just so fortunate Juddmonte sent me this horse in excellent shape. This might be her limit [in distance] as far as what she wants to do, but she's just a beautiful, well-bred horse; a typical Juddmonte horse. She's always trained brilliantly."
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