Afternoon rain softening the sunbaked turf…stablemates, one inside, two outside…pace pressure stalling from two stalls over…now, a lone leader, but stretching a furlong…
Riding the favorite Kathynmarissa for Diana dynamo Chad Brown, Jose Ortiz computed and compartmentalized all that in the first furlong of the Grade 1 Diana Stakes at Saratoga Race Course Saturday.
“If Five G would have broke, everything would have fallen into my lap,” Ortiz said. “When Five G didn’t break, then I had to go to Plan B and leave Segesta by herself but maybe she doesn’t get the distance. I knew Segesta would have an easy lead.”
The two-time Grade 1 winner sauntered through the first quarter mile in :23.92 as Ortiz slid Kathynmarissa into sixth, behind Manny Franco on Brown-trained Portfolio Duration.
“Once I decided to take that position behind Manny, I had to stick with that,” Ortiz said. “Just give her one run and I tried to do that.”
Five spots and 4 lengths behind Segesta after a half mile in :50.42, Ortiz relied on the weather impact and hoped for the best.
“I knew with the rain, the turf was going be a little bit softer than it has been the whole meet. I knew that could help me in the end,” Ortiz said. “We know Segesta is very good at a mile, a mile and an eighth probably is going to stretch her a little bit so I just rode it that way.”
Like a security guard at an all-night grocery, Ortiz circled in surveillance. Segesta led Ozara and British invader Cathedral through three quarters in 1:15.75. Portfolio Duration and Dynamic Pricing slotted in behind them. Kathynmarissa stalked those two, ahead of only the out-of-touch Five G, as Ortiz held, patient and plotting.
“I had to ride the race very carefully and time my move at the right time. In the second turn, I couldn’t try to be a hero inside and I was very aware of that going into the first turn,” Ortiz said. “I knew the pace was slow, so I knew I had to start pedaling early from the half-mile. It was a good trip, a little wide on the second turn because the horse inside was pushing me out but other than that it was good.”
Real good.
Into and around the second turn, Ortiz aimed Kathynmarissa in the clear outside and then pounced while getting knocked farther out by Dynamic Pricing passing the quarter pole. Straightening, Segesta led narrowly over the stacked Cathedral, Ozara and Portfolio Duration while Kathynmarissa began to unfurl from the middle of the inner turf. She rolled past the dispersing trio and collared Segesta six strides before the wire as Ortiz stood tall in his irons and glanced at the photographers in the hedge.
Owned by Michael Caruso and Michael Dubb, the 5-year-old daughter of American Pharoah won by a half-length after 1:51.42 over the yielding turf. Portfolio Duration held on for third. Bred by Don Alberto Corporation, Kathynmarissa collected her first Grade 1 stakes and improved her record to six wins from 14 starts for $1,940,745.
Purchased for $200,000 as a yearling at Keeneland September, Kathynmarissa made her first 10 starts for trainer Rick Dutrow. She broke her maiden at Santa Anita in April 2024 and added an allowance race in her next start. Into stakes from there, she finished third in the Tepin, second in the Saratoga Oaks and won the Dueling Grounds Oaks. Sent back to California, she was second after an audacious middle move in the Grade 1 American Oaks in December 2025 before freshening and finishing fifth in the Santa Ana at Santa Anita in March 2025. Dubb made a change after that, transferring her to Brown’s East Coast division.
“I wasn’t happy because she wasn’t with a trainer out there. We wanted her with a trainer. That’s why I moved her from Rick and Rick was OK with it. Rick roots for me. He has horses for me,” Dubb said from the winner’s circle. “But, yeah, it was a tough. Especially Rick because he’s a talented trainer in his own right. But if you were having brain surgery, what would you do? You’d want the absolute best. There’s no disputing that Chad is the master. That’s all I can tell you. I gave her to Chad and she’s done everything right.”
In her first start for Brown, Kathynmarissa dominated an allowance race going 1 1/8 miles on the turf at Saratoga last summer and didn’t turn up again until the Grade 3 Modesty at Churchill Downs in May. She won that before finishing a tough-luck third in the Grade 1 New York at Saratoga June 5. After that, it was straight to the Diana.
“Immeasurable. I’ve won big races in Saratoga before, but I never imagined I could win the Diana,” Dubb said. “I’m just blown away by it. Wow. I never thought I would have a horse good enough to win the Diana. It’s a dream race. I’ve won some big races here in Saratoga, but the Diana is in a league of its own.”
For Brown, it’s a league of his own as he tacked on his fifth straight Diana win and 11th overall.
“We started off the meet a little bit slow but when there’s some give in the ground and my horses can get their toe in it, they really accelerate. It’s just the way I train, especially high-quality turf horses, that’s what they really want to do. Even on firm courses,” Brown said. “Listen, to have a one, two, three in this race, a race we’ve had a lot of success in…to have four fillies in this race, three of them ran really well, it takes a lot of different tasks daily, executed perfectly to bring horses into the Diana this way.”
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