She Feels Pretty

She Feels Pretty won her career debut with a come from behind performance in a 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint at Ellis Park on July 16, 2023. From there she was ready to stretch out and ready to take on stakes competition, and the connections chose a trip to Woodbine for her second lifetime start in the Grade 1 $500,000 Johnnie Walker Natalma Stakes on Sept. 16. Sent off as the 8-1 odds third choice on the tote board in a 13-horse field in the Natalma going one mile on the turf, She Feels Pretty once again came from off the pace and made an outside move in the Woodbine stretch to blow by the leaders and record a 4 1/4-length victory with jockey John Velazquez aboard. The Natalma was a Breeders' Cup Challenge series win and you're in race, and with her victory, She Feels Pretty qualified for a guaranteed spot in the starting gate for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf on Nov. 3 at Santa Anita.

She Feels Pretty closed powerfully in the $1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf but could not catch winner Hard to Justify and finished third in the one-mile race.

She Feels Pretty returned from an extended layoff of 6 ½ months on May 17 at Pimlico on the George E. Mitchell Black-Eyed Susan Stakes undercard. The Karakontie filly proved much the best in her 3-year-old bow, seizing command in early stretch of the $100,000 Hilltop Stakes and surging well clear under John Velazquez to a 5 3/4-length romp.

Following a summer that consisted of a close third-place finish in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks Invitational and a second-place finish in the Grade 2 Lake Placid Stakes at Saratoga, She Feels Pretty made amends on the biggest stage of the year in the 3-year-old filly turf division with a big win in the Grade 1 $750,000 Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup going 1 1/8 miles at Keeneland on Oct. 12. In the QEII, She Feels Pretty left no doubts, stalking the pace close-up all the way and powering to the lead in the stretch and extending to a dominant six-length score.

Now a rising star, She Feels Pretty skipped competing in the 2024 Breeders’ Cup and instead returned Dec. 26 in the 1 ¼-mile, Grade 1 American Oaks on Santa Anita Park’s opening-day card. Sent off as the heavy favorite, She Feels Pretty tracked in third behind the early pace through the backstretch and took over on John Velazquez’s cue heading out of the far turn. She rolled through the homestretch to an overpowering victory, her second Grade 1 stakes in a row.

She Feels Pretty is trained by Cherie DeVaux. She was bred in Kentucky by the sire Karakontie out of the mare Summer Sweet by More Than Ready