SARATOGA SPRINGS — Unrivaled Belle pumped her reputation as an up-and-comer when she ran down Rachel Alexandra to win the La Troienne Stakes at Churchill Downs on April 30. But as the 3-5 favorite in yesterday’s Grade 1, $250,000 Ruffian Handicap — a race “Rachel” passed on — she found a filly she couldn’t handle.

Malibu Prayer led all the way under the hot-riding John Velazquez to beat Unrivaled Belle by 1 ¾ lengths.

Coming off a stakes win at Monmouth Park in her second start of the year for trainer Todd Pletcher, Malibu Prayer set a lively pace of :46.96 and 1:10.47, with Unrivaled Belle breathing down her neck after stumbling soon after the start.

Kent Desormeaux sent Unrivaled Belle after Malibu Prayer on the far turn, and those two dueled to the top of the stretch, when Malibu Prayer kicked away again.

“I figured I would let her break and do it nice and easy,” Velazquez said. “When I asked her, she responded very well. She did it easily.”

Malibu Prayer ran the 1mile in 1:48.14 to pay $6.70, topping a $10.40 exacta.

In the day’s co-feature, the Grade 2, $150,000 Fourstardave at a mile-and-a-sixteenth over the Mellon turf, Get Stormy shook loose on the lead under Javier Castellano, kicked away from his pursuers at the top of the stretch and cruised home by 1 1/4 lengths in 1:39.09, just 18/100ths off the course record set by Fourstardave himself in 1991.

Get Stormy’s main goal for the year, trainer Tom Bush said, is the Breeders’ Cup Mile on Nov. 6 at Churchill Downs.