Whitebeam,
who stalked the early lead en route to victory last year, set the pace this
time and took the field from gate to wire to repeat in the Grade 1, $500,000 Diana Stakes for older fillies and mares Saturday at Saratoga.

Trainer
Chad Brown, who had five of the 10 starters, won the 1 1/8-mile, inner-turf
race for the third year in a row and a record ninth time overall. Flavien Prat
rode the 5-year-old Caravaggio mare to a sixth victory in 14 starts.

Click here for Saratoga entries and results.

Bred
and owned by Juddmonte, Whitebeam (9-2) broke alertly from post 6 and took a
ground-saving trip along the rail through early fractions of 24.26, 49.49,
1:13.76 and 1:36.70.

As the
field fanned into the homestretch, 2022 Canada champion Moira (6-1) charged
down the middle of the course but never found herself on even terms with
Whitebeam, who won by about 1 1/4 lengths with a time of 1:48.14 on the firm
course.

Moira took
second, Gina Romantica (15-1) from Brown’s quintet finished third and post-time
favorite Didia (2-1) was fourth.

Whitebeam
paid $11.60, $6.70 and $5.10; Moira $7.10 and $5.70; and Gina Romantica $8.00.

This story will be updated by Matt Shifman’s report from Saratoga.