She Feels Pretty

At the Breeders' Cup World Championship, fractions of a second and tiny strokes of luck define legacies. Flipping through the past performances, it's easy to see only the numbers: the morning-line odds, post positions and speed figures that quantify each race. But for the people who know these athletes best—the grooms who understand their quirks and habits, the riders who have their stride memorized, the assistants who have thought through every nuance of their daily routine--these horses represent something else entirely. "Horses are like your family," said Tony Gutierrez, who...

Future WinStar stallion Mullikin (Violence) put in his final local prep Friday ahead of next weekend's GI Breeders' Cup Sprint. Working solo at Keeneland, he breezed immediately following the first track harrowing at 7:30 a.m. and clocked four furlongs in :48.40 (6/65). "We were not looking for anything too fancy," trainer Rodolphe Brisset said. "We did all the bottom work the last three weeks. He showed good energy and the rider was very happy with him. We got what we need." It was his final work in Kentucky as Brisset...

When She Feels Pretty (Karakontie {Jpn}) first burst onto the scene, Christian Erickson received several substantial offers for her dam, Summer Sweet (More Than Ready). The first calls came in after She Feels Pretty's debut win and the numbers grew after her victory in the GI Natalma Stakes. Still relatively new to the sport, having taken on the role of trustee for the Virginia Kraft Payson Children's Trust earlier that year, Erickson reached out to his new acquaintance Brian Graves of Gainesway Farm for advice. "We were being offered basically...

Lael Stables's MGISW She Feels Pretty (Karakontie {Jpn}), considered the top American runner to challenge the Europeans in GI Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf Stakes, continued her steady pattern for trainer Cherie DeVaux by working a half-mile in :48 on Friday morning at Keeneland. Drilling with stablemate & GSW Taking Candy (Twirling Candy), the 4-year-old logged her fifth Friday half-mile breeze since winning the GI E.P. Taylor Stakes at Woodbine on Aug. 16, which offered the filly an automatic ticket to the Breeders' Cup at Del Mar....

It's easy to see why She Feels Pretty (Karakontie {Jpn}) has become a fan favorite. She's remarkably consistent, never out of the money in 12 career starts. She's gutsy, having fought to claim her latest of five Grade I wins by a narrow head. And she's got personality. Her friendship with an ornery goat named Mickey has a growing following on social media. Enrique Miranda, an assistant trainer for Cherie DeVaux, is the star filly's main exercise rider and can attest: to know She Feels Pretty is to love her....

8th-SAR, $100K, Msw, 2yo, f, 1 1/16mT, 4:28 p.m. ET. From the same Cherie DeVaux shedrow as her older half-sister MGISW She Feels Pretty (Karakontie {Jpn}), SHE FEELS STUNNING (American Pharoah) is unveiled for Lael who owns both fillies. The first-time starter was acquired by the stables for $650,000 during Keeneland September. Dam Summer Sweet (More Than Ready) is herself out of French stakes winner Summer Solstice (Ire) (Caerleon), who is also responsible for SW Adirondack Summer (Thunder Gulch), SW Summer Breezing (Langfuhr) and GISP Summer Solo (Arch)--the dam of...

Etobicoke, Ontario--Crossing the border into the Great White North boasting a resume laced with a trio of Grade I victories, She Feels Pretty (Karakontie {Jpn}) annexed her fourth at the highest level when winning taking a nail-biting renewal of the GI E.P. Taylor Stakes at Woodbine, a 'Win and You're In' for the GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf in November. Heavily fancied by the crowd at 2-5 come post time, the chestnut broke evenly under John Velazquez to place herself in a forward position as Godolphin representative, Diamond...

ETOBICOKE, ONTARIO -- There are those that will often lament the things that are wrong with horse racing. However, a stroll around Woodbine's ever-expanding facilities go a long way in dispensing with some of those notions. The opening of the Great Canadian Casino-Resort has ushered in a next-level racetrack experience offering rooms with panoramic views of Woodbine's expansive E. P. Taylor racecourse while proving all the services and amenities that one might expect at a modern casino hotel. If one enjoys racing and a myriad of gaming products with a...

Saturday at Saratoga, while stuck in Mother Nature's crosshairs, provided trainer Chad Brown a tenth GI Diana Stakes victory with Excellent Truth (Ire) (Cotai Glory {GB}) and saw 'TDN Rising Star' Far Bridge (English Channel) dominate the GII Bowling Green Stakes. With their charges emerging from the efforts in good shape, the connections are tentatively looking to the future. In the Brown camp, Excellent Truth's effort only served to strengthen what the conditioner already believed going into the contest--that his mare was one of the best in the country. After...

The GI Dunkin' Diana Stakes continues, as it has for nine of the last ten years, to run through the Chad Brown barn as Excellent Truth (Ire) (Cotai Glory {GB}) just edged out favorite She Feels Pretty (Karakontie {Jpn}) in a stretch duel to take the opening Grade I of the Saratoga summer meet. While eyes and wagering dollars were on Cherie DeVaux's She Feels Pretty, Brown wielded a strong hand in stablemates Excellent Truth and Dynamic Pricing (Ire) (Night of Thunder {Ire}), the one-two finishers in the GI Just...

The GI Dunkin' Diana Stakes has run through the Chad Brown barn for the last three years and while Brown has two solid entries here, the race runs through the rail-drawn Cherie DeVaux starter She Feels Pretty (Karakontie {Jpn}). The 4-year-old Lael Stables-owned filly has won four straight dating back to last year, including three Grade I races over several of the rivals she'll line up against Saturday. For reference her last two 1 1/8-mile races resulted in wins by a combined 8 1/4 lengths and she'll be stepping back...

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...