Photo: NYRA / Susie Raisher / Coglianese Photo showcases the remarkable moment. Pretty Ana, a daughter of Quality Road trained by four-time Eclipse Award-winner Chad Brown, demonstrated exceptional determination in Saturday's Grade 3 $200,000 Comely race. This nine-furlong route for sophomore fillies at Aqueduct was a true test of her mettle.

Quality Road's Offspring Shines in Grade 3 Stakes

Lead from the Start

In the first turn, Pretty Ana made her presence felt as she took the lead, marking an opening quarter-mile in a swift 24.41 seconds over the fast footing. Dorothy's Dreams closely followed in second, while the favored Alpine Princess stalked in third. This early dominance set the stage for an intense battle.The regally-bred bay showed her class as she maintained her lead, with Jose Lezcano patiently guiding her. Down the backstretch, Dorothy's Dreams briefly took command, but Lezcano remained composed. Manny Franco held Alpine Princess in check through the half-mile in 49.32 seconds.

Stretch Showdown

Approaching the turn, Pretty Ana easily regained command. Alpine Princess came to even terms after three-quarters in 1:13.45 as Dorothy's Dreams retreated. The top two then edged clear of the rest, gearing up for a thrilling stretch-long showdown.Alpine Princess gave strong chase and appeared poised to sweep by after the mile in 1:37.63. However, Pretty Ana refused to yield. She pinned her ears and kept a head in front, crossing the wire first in a final time of 1:49.99. It was a 5 1/2-length gap back to Scalable in third, who held off her stablemate Life Talk by a neck. Dorothy's Dreams completed the order of finish.Lezcano, aboard for the first time in the afternoon, praised Pretty Ana's professionalism. "She is a very nice filly. When she got to the lead, she relaxed herself. When I asked her to go, she went on and won the race. She was running, and the other filly, too, she gave me a good race," he said.Chad Brown emphasized the importance of this graded stakes win for a filly with such an esteemed family. "I'm so happy for Mr. Torrealba and the whole Three Chimneys team. This is their core family, and this filly is worth quite a bit of money. Hopefully they keep her in training next year and we can build on her resume. She's lovely to have and on top of what she did today, she's a very classy horse and a pleasure to have around," he said.Pretty Ana was initially trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen through her first five outings, including a second-out graduation in February at Fair Grounds Race Course. The Comely marked her first win in four starts since transferring to Brown earlier this summer. In victory, she banked $110,000 while improving her lifetime record to 9-2-0-3 and returning $9.40 on a $2 win ticket.The Brad Cox-trained Alpine Princess entered from a 9 3/4-length romp in the Listed Remington Park Oaks on September 29 and made her second outing off a six-month respite. Manny Franco, who was aboard for Alpine Princess' second-out graduation last September, could only tip his cap to Pretty Ana. "My filly was trying so hard. I have to give credit to the winner. She never gave up, she was competitive. I was right there. It was slow, but I was right there, just stalking them, so not really much excuses," he said.