Diana highlights first Saturday at Saratoga

By NY Hot List Staff | July 14, 2023

The most wonderful time of the year has begun. The 40-day meet at Saratoga is underway and the first weekend has plenty of action in store for fans. Three graded stakes highlight Saturday’s card with the big one being the Grade 1 Diana Stakes where trainer Chad Brown has a formidable hand with four of the five starters.

Here’s the Hot List picks for the Diana:

The $500,000 Diana (G1), Saratoga, Saturday, Race 4

(2) In Italian will try and win his third Grade 1 stake in a row this year for Chad Brown. The son of Dubawi won this race last year and has won 4 out of his last 5 races. The only loss was a second in the Breeders’ Cup when he was beaten by a length by an Aidan O’Brien runner. With heavy rain on Thursday evening and more rain expected In Italian will probably have to deal with wet turf for the first time. (1) Fev Rover made her 2023 debut at Woodbine for Mark Casse and was an impressive winner of the Nassau (G2) when he rallied from last to win by more than four lengths. (3) Marketsegmentation is the second of four horses from the Brown barn and is the most lightly raced filly in the field. She won her last three starts of the year in stakes races beginning at Gulfstream Park and then moved to Belmont Park where she won the Beaugay (G3) and her first Grade 1 in the New York. (4) Fluffy Socks is the third from Brown and she won her only start of the year at Churchill Downs on Derby weekend in the Distaff Turf Mile (G2).

The rest of the NY Hot List picks and the Special Saturday Pick 3 are available free of charge at this website.