Today, the Old Spa serves up the first of the meet’s five multiple-stakes Saturday cards with a pair of historic Grade 1’s: the 66th running of the $500,000 Diana Handicap for fillies and mares over the Mellon turf course, and the 79th running of the $250,000 Test at seven furlongs for 3-year-old fillies.
The Diana shapes up as a showdown between two of the top turf females in the nation: Intercontinental, trained by Bobby Frankel, who won this race back-to-back with Starine and Tates Creek in 2001-2002, and Wonder Again, from the barn of Jimmy Toner, who saddled Memories of Silver to win the Diana in 1998.
Intercontinental is a 4-year-old English-bred daughter of the late supersire Danehill, from the immediate family of two other standout grass mares, Banks Hill and Heat Haze. A solid stakes performer in Europe, she’s been perfect since shipping to the U.S. over the winter, winning three straight, including the Just A Game going a mile at Belmont Park in June. The Diana will be her first run at a mile-and-an-eighth.
“I’ve been pointing her to this race for a while,” Frankel said. “She has a nice [off-the-pace] style to get a little more distance. The soft turf might be another factor that could help, but I’m really not too concerned.”
Wonder Again finished fifth in last year’s Diana during a campaign that went badly off course, but the 5-year-old Silver Hawk mare appears to be back at her best after winning the New York Handicap last out by 31/4 lengths.
“Last year was a wash,” Toner said. “This year we’ve gotten off to a much better start.”
With rain in the forecast, the turf figures to be yielding, but that won’t bother either Intercontinental or Wonder Again, both of which move up in off-going.
The Test, which drew a field of 12, is a wide-open affair. Dazzle Me and Forest Music figure to gun from the gate and hook up in a ferocious speed duel. That could set things up for a filly to come from off the pace, like Bob Baffert’s Friendly Michelle, winner of the Prioress last out, or first-time-Lasix Society Selection, whose trainer, Allen Jerkens, has a history of posting momentous upsets in Saratoga stakes.
