Lael Stables’ She Feels Pretty made it 2-for-2 in blinkers with another demolition job in Thursday’s $303,000 American Oaks (G1) at Santa Anita. Dispatched as the 3-5 favorite off her romp in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (G1) at Keeneland, the Cherie DeVaux filly was similarly emphatic here in her first attempt at 1 1/4 miles.
Indeed, She Feels Pretty blasted home in 1:58.69. That’s by far the fastest time in stakes history at the distance, whether at its original home of Hollywood Park or since its transfer to Santa Anita in 2014.
She Feels Pretty was setting a stakes record in her second straight Grade 1. In Keeneland’s QEII, she won by the biggest margin ever in that race – six lengths.
Although She Feels Pretty didn’t run up the score quite so much in the American Oaks, with a 2 1/2-length verdict, the daughter of Karakontie didn’t have a perfectly smooth passage either. Hall of Fame rider John Velazquez commented on an early incident that set her alight.
“She got a little keen, broke a little slow, and then when she passed the dirt, she took like a weird step and then she got up and started running up,” Velazquez said. “I wanted to keep her covered up – she is much better covered up – but today she was really keen. I put her right behind the horse in front of me, and I held her the best I could.”
Velazquez did well to keep something of a lid on the strong-traveling She Feels Pretty. The favorite still took a hold despite racing near a fast pace for the trip.
A sequence of longshots battled for the early lead. Chatalas was just in front through an opening quarter in :23.20. As she wilted, her early pursuers Vibez and Valence traded blows through fractions of :46.25 and 1:11.51.
Then the 4.20-1 second choice Kathynmarissa, who had been biding her time near the rear, played her hand with a bold middle move. Jockey Frankie Dettori turned her loose down the backstretch. Kathynmarissa passed most of the field, including She Feels Pretty, to reach contention, and then Dettori gathered her in again in hopes of having a breather.
Velazquez wasn’t going to let Dettori steal a march on him or put him in a problematic spot.
“All of a sudden, Frankie made a big move in the backstretch,” Velazquez recapped, “and he put the brakes down in front of me, so I said, ‘No, I’m not going to play this game; I’ve got a mile, so let’s go.’ And obviously I had a good horse.”
She Feels Pretty responded instantly. Steering around Kathynmarissa and giving her a taste of her own medicine, she bounded clear in a few strides to put the race away.
Kathynmarissa stayed on as best of the rest by 1 1/4 lengths from Medoro. Dettori explained his maneuver, and his view of She Feels Pretty.
“I was out in back,” Dettori said of his early position. “They were going, so I made a good move around the back. I’m very happy. One minute, I was joined on my inside, I blinked, and it was two legs in front of me on the outside. I mean, (She Feels Pretty) passed me like a rocket but my filly, she was a good second.”
Rashmi rallied from last for fourth, in isolation from the top three as well those toiling in her wake. Watchtower, Strutting, Valence, Chatalas, Mizzyaan, Vibes, and Baltic Fire concluded the order under the wire. Sakura Blossom was withdrawn along with Omaha Girl, who is cross-entered to Friday’s Robert J. Frankel (G3).
She Feels Pretty both literally and figuratively looked like a million dollars in the American Oaks, which boosted her bankroll to $1,128,317 from her 8-5-1-2 line. A sensational winner of last fall’s Natalma (G1) in her stakes debut at Woodbine, she was a wide-trip third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1). She Feels Pretty kicked off her sophomore campaign with a 5 3/4-length rout of the May 17 Hilltop S. at Pimlico, but she sustained a pair of close, frustrating reverses in the July 6 Belmont Oaks (G1) at Aqueduct and Aug. 17 Lake Placid (G2) at Saratoga.
Hence DeVaux reached for the blinkers. The headgear has lifted She Feels Pretty to another level, but her trainer also compliments the role of her team and Velazquez himself.
“It’s very special,” her trainer said. “She is such a special filly. Johnny has done a great job helping us get her to where she is. It has been a team effort for everybody to get her here. It’s really special. She is a filly that as an early two-year-old, she was kind of like an ugly duckling. She just needed to grow into herself. Still, she won her first time out going 5 1/2 furlongs (at Ellis Park), and now he is up to a mile and a quarter, so it has been quite rewarding to watch the process.”
“Whatever Cherie has done with her,” Velazquez said, “it has been a great job. I really have to thank her for giving me the opportunity to ride her.”
She Feels Pretty was bred by Payson Stud in Kentucky and sold for $240,000 as a Keeneland September yearling. Her dam, the More Than Ready mare Summer Sweet, is a half-sister to Grade 1-placed Summer Solo (herself the dam of multiple Canadian Grade 3 winner Solo Album) and to stakes scorers Adirondack Summer and Summer Breezing. They are in turn out of French stakes vixen Summer Solstice, a Caerleon half-sister to multiple Group 1 star Act One.
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