By Stefanie Grimm
She had to work for this one but She Feels Pretty (Karakontie {Jpn}) added yet another Grade I win to her resume (her fourth overall) with a gutsy victory over 17-1 longshot Beach Bomb (SAf) (Lancaster Bomber) in the GI New York Stakes Friday.
Practically untouchable for trainer Cherie DeVaux, the 4-year-old made just the second start of the year but came back in style by winning the GIII Modesty Stakes at Churchill on the Kentucky Oaks undercard May 2. All that after capping her 3-year-old campaign with back-to-back Grade I wins in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes at Keeneland in October and the American Oaks in California Dec. 26. Her last run over this 1 3/16-mile distance came back last summer when she was third as the beaten favorite in the GI Belmont Oaks Invitational.
Drawn widest of the eight-horse field and facing a turf course labeled as yielding for the first time in her career, She Feels Pretty had enough tactical early speed to get herself into a nice, stalking position third on the run into the clubhouse turn. Longshot Edict (Arg) (Il Campione {Chi}) was keen to go up front for Manny Franco and was chased intently by the Graham Motion entree Beach Bomb in second through early fractions of :24.27 and :51.30. Through it all, She Feels Pretty raced two wide just off the flank of Bellezza (Ire) (Siyouni {Fr}) in a solo fourth until given a cue just past the half-mile marker for John Velazquez (who netted his fourth win of the card here). Coming with a strong run but still wide, She Feels Pretty lost out on the first jump as Beach Bomb was also gearing up to take on Edict with a quarter-mile left to run. Three wide at the top of the stretch, the favorite was clearly going to have to work to put Beach Bomb away to her inside and just managed to do so inside the final sixteenth to win in her tightest finish since last summer.
“Just kind of overwhelmed,” said DeVaux after the race. “Having a filly like that is super special. 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. [Jockey] Johnny [Velazquez] commented that the first time around she didn't really tug him around there, but she's such a professional. She just did it.”
Velazquez added: “She was not loving it [the yielding turf], but she was running pretty good. She's a little bit better when she's sitting behind someone. I waited with that horse [No. 5, Edict] in front of me into the first turn, I went in right behind. I followed the horse that was in front, right behind into the first turn and I sat right behind her, that's what she likes – to follow somebody.”
Pedigree Note:
One of 17 stakes winner for Gainesway stallion Karakontie (Jpn), She Feels Pretty is out of a winning mare in Summer Sweet who sold to Payson Stud for $550,000 as a 2-year-old at KEEJAN in 2016. The mare is herself a half to several successful runners including SW Summer Breezing (Langfuhr), SW/GSP Adirondack Summer (Thunder Gulch) and GISP Summer Solo (Arch), the dam of MGSW Solo Album (Curlin) and SW/GSP Maedean (Tapit). This is the family of French MG1SW Act One (GB) (In the Wings {GB}), G1SP Gharir (Ire) (Machiavellian) and G1SP Summer Symphony (Ire) (Caerleon). She Feels Pretty has a 2-year-old half-sister named She Feels Stunning (American Pharoah) on the work tab at Keeneland along with a yearling Olympiad half-sister and a filly half-sister by Justify reported this year.
She Feels Pretty notches another Grade 1 victory taking down the Just A Game (GI) at Belmont at Saratoga! 🎪@ljlmvel earns his 4th win on the day aboard the 4-year-old daughter of @Gainesway Stallion Karakontie for trainer @reredevaux. pic.twitter.com/ZBTjEuLKpu
— TwinSpires Racing 🏇 (@TwinSpires) June 6, 2025
Friday, Saratoga
NEW YORK S. PRESENTED BY RIVERS CASINO-GI, $750,000, Saratoga, 6-6, 4yo/up, f/m, 1 3/16mT, 2:00.76, yl.
1–SHE FEELS PRETTY, 124, f, 4, by Karakontie (Jpn)
1st Dam: Summer Sweet, by More Than Ready
2nd Dam: Summer Solstice (Ire), by Caerleon
3rd Dam: Summer Sonnet (GB), by Baillamont
($240,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP). O-Lael Stables; B-Payson Stud Inc (KY); T-Cherie DeVaux; J-John R. Velazquez. $412,500. Lifetime Record: 10-7-1-2, $1,784,957. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree or free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Beach Bomb (Saf), 124, m, 5, by Lancaster Bomber
1st Dam: Beach Beauty (Saf) (Ch. Older Mare-SAF,
Ch. Older Mare-SAF, Broodmare Of The Year-SAF,
MG1SW-SAF, $576,854), by Dynasty (Saf)
2nd Dam: Sun Coast (Saf), by Capture Him
3rd Dam: Leisure (Saf), by Hobnob (Fr)
O-Cayton Park Stud; B-Drakenstein Stud (Nom: Mrs. G. A. Rupert) (SAF); T-H. Graham Motion. $150,000.
3–Bellezza (Ire), 120, f, 4, by Siyouni (Fr)
1st Dam: Terrific (Ire) (SP-Ire), by Galileo (Ire)
2nd Dam: Shadow Song (Ire), by Pennekamp
3rd Dam: Evening Air, by J. O. Tobin
1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. O/B-Moyglare Stud Farm (IRE); T-Miguel Clement. $90,000.
Margins: HF, 4, HF. Odds: 0.50, 17.10, 6.50.
Also Ran: Forever After All, Miwa (GB), Edict (Arg), Gimme a Nother (Saf). Scratched: Immensitude (Fr).
Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
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