Sarah Sis leads revival of Mason’s stable

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Ingrid Mason’s first attempt at a training career was stopped cold by a hurricane that dismantled her stable. Her second go-round has been highlighted by Sarah Sis, who is developing into a Kentucky Oaks candidate at this Oaklawn Park meet.

Sarah Sis won the Grade 3, $150,000 Honeybee on March 7, one start after missing by a head to champion Take Charge Brandi in the $100,000 Martha Washington on Jan. 31. The next stop could be the Grade 3, $400,000 Fantasy at Oaklawn on April 4.

“That’s kind of what we’re looking at, and obviously we’re looking at the Oaks because everybody wants to be in the Oaks,” Mason said. “That’s definitely where we want to be. [But] with these horses, you have to take it one day at a time.”

Mason has had to rebuild her racing stable one day at a time. Mason, 42, a native of Santa Clara, Calif., won the first race of her career at Bay Meadows in 2005. Not long afterward, she made her way to south Florida.

“I started on my own in California,” Mason said. “I won one race over there, then I took some horses with me to Florida. I flew over there, so I spent quite a bit of money. They were my own responsibility, my own horses.”

Mason’s venture started out well.

“I claimed one over there and won a race with it, and I did okay,” she said. “Then a hurricane came and took out my horses. I had one with a fractured hip. I had one with a broken knee, and the reason was it was such a bad hurricane, the roof at the place I had my horses came off, and there was all that noise, and my horses were standing in deep water. I only had five horses at the time, but basically it put me out of business.”

Mason ended up giving away some of the horses to folks who rehabilitated them after the storm.

“I had one horse left. I actually won with him,” Mason said. “I had to rebuild from there. I started galloping horses at Calder and went to Gulfstream. I was working for an electronics place trying to sell stuff.”

Mason eventually went to work for trainer Jimmy DiVito and in time resumed training on her own with a three-horse stable that came to Oaklawn in 2009. She won her first stakes with one of those horses, Crook’s Bodgit, in the $100,000 Star of Texas at Sam Houston. Mason continued to build up her operation and now has 25 horses at Oaklawn.

Mason is coming off her best year at the track, with 56 wins from 287 starters and stable earnings of $1,157,197. The barn will move to Arlington Park after Oaklawn, but Mason also plans to branch out some from her usual circuit with a string at Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Oaks.

Sarah Sis, who races for Oklahoma resident Joe Ragsdale, is the stable’s star. She picked out the Sharp Humor filly at a sale of 2-year-olds in training in Ocala, Fla., and she was a $20,000 purchase. Sarah Sis has won 3 of 6 starts and $203,000, among her efforts an 11-length debut win at Arlington Park and a first-level allowance score at Keeneland.

Sarah Sis won at two turns for the first time in the Honeybee, giving Mason her biggest win as a trainer. And after all the horsewoman has been through, Mason is savoring the journey with Sarah Sis.

“My goal is to grow and get these types of horses,” Mason said. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime type of thing, this filly. She’s very special. I’ve just been blessed with her. It’s tough to win a horse race anyway, much less one like that.”