Oaklawn Park notes: Sister Ginger will target Honeybee next

Coady Photography

Sister Ginger wins last Saturday's Martha Washington by 2 3/4 lengths.

Sister Ginger, who earned 10 points toward the Kentucky Oaks with her win in the $75,000 Martha Washington last Saturday at Oaklawn, is being pointed to the track’s next race for the division, the Grade 3, $150,000 Honeybee on March 9, trainer Steve Asmussen said.

Sister Ginger earned a career-higher Beyer Speed Figure of 85 for her 2 3/4-length win in the Martha Washington. She set the pace and then came back on after being headed in the stretch by Grade 3 winner Rose to Gold. In her prior start, Sister Ginger finished a distant sixth as the favorite in an Oaklawn allowance opening day. Prior to the Jan. 11 start, Sister Ginger had run second in consecutive stakes.

“She’s a nice filly that has put some nice races together,” Asmussen said. “She had an unexplainably bad race opening week [at Oaklawn], but had been training very good since. We’re very proud of her race in the Martha Washington and plan on going to the Honeybee.”

Sister Ginger races for her breeders, Millennium Farm and Little Brother Farm. She is a daughter of Student Council, with whom Millennium and Asmussen won the Grade 1 Pimlico Special in 2008.

Danner to serve as Borel’s agent

Jockey Calvin Borel will be represented by Doc Danner for the remainder of the meet due to the health issues his longtime agent, Jerry Hissam, is battling. Borel is awaiting clearance from his doctors to resume riding after breaking a small bone in his left wrist the second week in January. He is one win from career victory No. 5,000.

Hissam, 68, recently spent a week in a local hospital for an infection in his pancreas.

“For health reasons, I won’t be able to work the rest of the meet,” he said Tuesday. “We’ve got some tests the next three or four weeks.”