Four fillies and mares targeting
Saturday’s Grade 1 Diana worked out on the Oklahoma Turf Course Monday morning.
With exercise rider Danielle
Hodsdon aboard, Forever Together prepared for her attempt to win the
Diana for the third consecutive year with a 59.60 bullet breeze around dogs.
“I’ll say it was a successful
operation,” said Jonathan Sheppard, who trains the gray 6-year-old mare for
George Strawbridge’s Augustin Stable.
Forever Together is winless in
five starts since winning last year’s Diana but remains in good form, having
never finished outside the trifecta during that span. She has raced twice in
2010, finishing second in the Grade 2 Jenny Wiley at Keeneland in April and the
Grade 1 Gamely at Hollywood
Park in May.
Following her runner-up effort in
the Gamely and prior to her arrival in Saratoga,
Forever Together posted four workouts at Presque Isle Downs in Pennsylvania.
“Today was her fourth morning of
training here,” noted Sheppard. “I took her to Presque Isle because we had a
drought on the farm. She seems to enjoy training on the Tapeta.”
Also breezing five furlongs were Proviso
and My Princess Jess, the first- and third-place finishers in the Grade
1 Just a Game on the Belmont Stakes undercard. Proviso negotiated five furlongs
in 1:03.40, while My Princess Jess covered the distance two-fifths of a second
faster than the Just a Game winner.
“I was real happy with it,” said
trainer Bill Mott following Proviso’s breeze.
Phola, second in the Just a Game, worked four furlongs on the
Oklahoma Turf in 48.35, handily.
“Phola did a solid maintenance
work and acts like she’s ready to go,” said trainer Todd Pletcher. “I
think [the Diana field] is what you would expect in a Grade 1 race at Saratoga – it’s a
somewhat compact field, but there are some very, very talented fillies in there.”
Shared Account and Dynaslew – first and second in the Grade 3 All
Along at Colonial Downs June 19 – are also probable for the Diana, according
Byrnes.