TORONTO, August 16, 2025— She Feels Pretty punched her ticket to the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (G1) by holding off a late charge from UK import Diamond Rain in Saturday’s $750,000 Grade 1 E.P. Taylor Stakes at Woodbine Racetrack. Sent off as the 2-5 favourite in the 70th edition of the race, She Feels Pretty was ridden to victory by John Velazquez. The 4-year-old daughter of Karakontie (JPN) out of the More The Ready mare Summer Sweet topped $2 million in career earnings with the victory. She completed the 1 ¼ miles on the E.P. Taylor Turf Course in 2:00.80 to win the race added this year to the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series as an official “Win and You’re In” race. Diamond Rain (GB), the Godolphin homebred trained by Charlie Appleby and ridden by William Buick, recovered valiantly after a poor start that saw him get away last in the field of seven. The 2-1 second choice came flying home in the stretch and just missed by a head. She Feels Pretty and jockey John Valazquez winning the E.P. Taylor Stakes on August 16, 2025 at Woodbine (Michael Burns Photo) Meanwhile, She Feels Pretty had challenges of her own. Velazquez said the mare was hit from behind up the backstretch “and got really anxious… You can see she got cut through the bandages. She got hit pretty good, but then she got pretty keen. “So now, I have her covered up, and I’ve got to get in the clear a little bit. From then on it was a wrestling match with her. I didn’t want to move too soon [because] the horse from Europe [Diamond Rain] was really close and really good. I wrestled with [She Feels Pretty] past the 5/16ths pole and then finally put my hands down to let her do her thing. “The last 16th of a mile, I don’t know what she saw, but she got lost. I thought, ‘Come on, don’t do this to me now. We’re almost there,’ but she got it done.” In the end it was essentially a two-horse race, with the rest of the field well behind She Feels Pretty and Diamond Rain. She Feels Pretty paid $2.90 and improved to 3-1-0 in four 2025 starts for owner Lael Stables and trainer Cherie DeVaux. Lael Stables purchased her for $240,000 at the 2022 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Lifetime, the mare bred by Payson Stud Inc of Kentucky, has earned $2,334,957. She also topped $1 million on the year with the victory. Her seasonal earnings are exactly $1,205,540. DeVaux said she elected to bring She Feels Pretty to Woodbine because the mare had, “been training so well it just made sense to come here now and run her here instead of waiting a couple of more weeks for the Flower Bowl [at Saratoga].” The trainer said She Feels Pretty will “most definitely” accept the ticket into the Breeders’ Cup being contested Oct. 31- Nov. 1 at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club. It was the fourth career Grade 1 victory and fifth graded stakes win for She Feels Pretty, who was making her first start at Woodbine since winning the Grade 1 $503,500 Johnnie Walker Natalma Stakes in September of 2023. Normally contested in September, the E.P. Taylor was moved to King’s Plate Day in order to accommodate upgrades to the E.P. Taylor Turf Course set to begin soon. Dave Briggs, for Woodbine Share This:Share
