Dacita returns in good shape after Diana

Dacita, who rallied relentlessly on the far outside to win Saturday’s Grade 1 Diana in a thrilling blanket finish, came out of the race well, as did Chad Brown’s three other runners - thirdplace finisher Rainha Da Bateria, Mrs McDougal (7th) and Wekeela (10th).

“Everyone looks alright,” said Brown, who notched his first career Grade 1 win with Zagora in the 2011 Diana.

Dacita, who beat champion Tepin in the Ballston Spa here last year, won her first Grade 1 title.

“I want to just give her the week to evaluate her,” said Brown. “She really ran a hard race yesterday so we’ll see what we want to do next. It’s unclear.”

At 28-1, Rainha Da Bateria was beaten a head as the second-longest shot in the field of 10 fillies and mares.

“She had been training really well,” said Brown. “Julien [Leparoux] gave her a nice, patient ride, got unlucky there late in between horses but she ran her race. I know her odds were long, but I’m not going to run here just to run at Saratoga. I thought I didn’t place her well last time in the Just a Game; she really wants two turns and longer, and she showed it [Saturday]. She ran great.”

Brown will take aim at two more upcoming grass stakes for fillies and mares with Sea Calisi and Ball Dancing, who worked five furlongs together in 1:00.20 seconds on the Oklahoma turf course shortly before 10 a.m. Sunday. Sea Calisi is bound for the Grade 1 Beverly D. at Arlington Park, while Ball Dancing is targeting the Grade 3 Fasig-Tipton Waya Stakes at Saratoga on Whitney Day, August 6.

Brown also reported that Grade 1 winner Angela Renee will miss next Sunday’s Grade 3 Shuvee after getting sick.

Brown said decisions regarding the placement of 3-year-olds Connect and Gift Box for Friday’s Curlin Stakes and Saturday’s Grade 2 Jim Dandy will likely be made after he speaks to their owners Sunday afternoon.

At Belmont Park, both Flintshire and Lady Eli breezed five furlongs in preparation for a trip north on Monday. Flintshire, winner of the Grade 1 Woodford Reserve Manhattan on June 11, went in 1:01 for Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Bowling Green while Lady Eli, who has not run since winning the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks last July, was timed in 1:00 3/5. Cherie DeVaux, Brown’s Belmont Park assistant, said by telephone both “went really well.” According to the Daily Racing Form, Lady Eli is under consideration for a return in the Grade 2 Ballston Spa on Travers Day.