2019 Eclipse Awards: Sistercharlie

Not many horses win six races in their careers, let alone six stakes.

What Sistercharlie achieved in the last half of 2018 and through the summer and early fall of 2019 was exceptional – six consecutive Grade 1 stakes wins for fillies and mares on turf.

Sistercharlie was beaten in her final start of 2019, a third-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita on Nov. 2. For her three Grade 1 wins earlier in the year, Sistercharlie has been recognized as a finalist for the Eclipse Award as the nation’s outstanding turf female of 2019.

:: Full list of 2019 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories

She was supposed to have that kind of season. Owned by Peter Brant and trained by Chad Brown, Sistercharlie was the champion turf female of 2018, a season that ended with Grade 1 wins in the Diana Stakes at Saratoga, the Beverly D. Stakes at Arlington Park, and the BC Filly and Mare Turf at Churchill Downs.

The goals were similar for 2019. Sistercharlie had her first start of the year in the Grade 1 Diana Stakes in July, a debut delayed by illness. Remarkably, she was not favored, a role that went to the Brown-trained Rushing Fall. There were six fillies and mares in the Diana Stakes, run at 1 1/8 miles, and 9-5 Sistercharlie rallied six wide to take the lead in the final furlong, beating 8-5 Rushing Fall by 1 3/4 lengths.

“Another great performance by a great mare,” Brown said in the winner’s circle.

By any measure, Sistercharlie gave an outstanding performance in the Diana, one she equaled in the Beverly D. a month later, closing from sixth in a field of seven to win by a convincing three lengths under regular rider John Velazquez.

In the early fall of 2018, Sistercharlie missed the Grade 1 Flower Bowl Invitational for fillies and mares at 1 1/4 miles on turf at Belmont Park because of a foot bruise. She added the prestigious race to her résumé in 2019, winning as the 1-5 favorite by three-quarters of a length.

Her perfect campaign through October made Sistercharlie the 4-5 favorite of 10 in the BC Filly and Mare Turf. Sistercharlie was fifth on the backstretch and made her customary move in the final three furlongs to move closer to the front. But unlike her wins earlier in the year, Sistercharlie could not reach the front, finishing 2 1/2 lengths behind the Irish shipper Iridessa.

The third-place finish at Santa Anita was only the fifth defeat in Sistercharlie’s 15-race career and was run on a turf course that Brown said may have been firmer than the mare would have preferred.

Nonetheless, Sistercharlie added to her remarkable career achievements through the season. She won the French Oaks at Chantilly in 2017, the BC Filly and Mare Turf in 2018, and the sixth, seventh, and eighth Group 1 or Grade 1 races of her career in 2019.