Peter Brant's Gezora, winner of the 2025 Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1T), will make her 2026 debut in the $500,000 Modesty Stakes (G3T) May 1 at Churchill Downs.
The 4-year-old filly by Almanzor was last seen taking the Filly and Mare Turf by a 1/2 length over eventual 2025 Eclipse Award champion turf female, She Feels Pretty, in her first start in America for trainer Francis-Henri Graffard. Gezora was then transferred to the barn of trainer Chad Brown, so she could focus on a career in the United States.
"She's had a wonderful, uncomplicated winter down at Payson Park," trainer Chad Brown said. "She was handed over in excellent shape by Francis-Henri Graffard, and she's been just clicking along and ready to get her campaign started."
Gezora was bred in France by Haras d'Etreham. Brant bought the filly privately in 2024 after a promising 2-year-old season. She won the Prix de Diane (G1) in her third start of 2025, and finished the year strong with a Breeders' Cup win, bringing her total career earnings to $2,037,412.
The 1 1/8-mile race should be no problem for Gezora, who won the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf at 1 3/8 miles.
"A mile and an eighth Modesty, quite a cutback off the three-turn Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf that she just won," Brown said. "But looking at the schedule, I thought it was a good time to get her started as a prep for maybe the New York Handicap, which is five weeks later in New York, on Belmont Stakes weekend, and then from there start to map out her campaign to hopefully get to the Breeders' Cup at Keeneland."
Flavien Prat will be aboard the filly for the first time.
Brown has two other entries in the 10-horse field—multiple graded stakes-placed Kathynmarissa and graded stakes winner Whiskey Decision. Michal Caruso and Michael Dubb's Kathynmarissa has not raced since winning an allowance optional claiming race last August at Saratoga Race Course. She finished second in the 2024 American Oaks (G1T) to She Feels Pretty, and Brown is hopeful she can continue her form.
Alpha Delta Stables' Whiskey Decision enters the race off a heartbreaking defeat in the March 7 Hillsborough Stakes (G2T), finishing a nose behind Pegasus World Cup Filly and Mare Turf Invitational Stakes (G2T) winner, Destino d'Oro.
Alpha Delta Stables purchased the daughter of Into Mischief at last year's Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale for $1.5 million.
Proctor Street, last seen finishing third in the Hillsborough, just a neck behind Whiskey Decision, looks to be one of the top threats to the Chad Brown trio. The Brendan Walsh-trained filly won the Cardinal Stakes last fall at Churchill Downs.
Three Diamond Farm's Pin Up Betty, who was fifth in last year's Cardinal Stakes, will be back for more Friday, following a flat fifth-place finish in the Jenny Wiley Stakes (G1T) at Keeneland. Both of her graded stakes wins have come over the track at Churchill Downs, making her a dangerous contender.
Churchill Downs, Friday, May 1, 2026, Race 10Entries: Modesty S. presented by Veritas Prime (G3T)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Ramsey Pond (KY) Luis Saez 118 Saffie A. Joseph, Jr. 30/1 2 2Proctor Street (KY) Tyler Gaffalione 118 Brendan P. Walsh 6/1 3 3Whiskey Decision (KY) Irad Ortiz, Jr. 118 Chad C. Brown 4/1 4 4Stylish Sue (KY) Jaime A. Torres 118 Joe Sharp 20/1 5 5Kathynmarissa (KY) Jose L. Ortiz 118 Chad C. Brown 8/1 6 6Gezora (FR) Flavien Prat 123 Chad C. Brown 4/5 7 7Dona Clota (CHI) John R. Velazquez 118 Saffie A. Joseph, Jr. 20/1 8 8Pin Up Betty (KY) Juan J. Hernandez 118 Michael J. Maker 10/1 9 9Adrasteia (KY) Kazushi Kimura 118 Fergus Bogle 30/1 10 10Queens Command (IRE) Dylan Davis 118 Joe Sharp 50/1
