Sistercharlie looks to extend Grade 1 win streak in Flower Bowl

ELMONT, N.Y. – A year ago at this time, Sistercharlie was nursing a bruised hind foot that forced her to miss the Flower Bowl and made her bid for victory in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf a bit more challenging.

Sistercharlie overcame a near three-month layoff to capture the Filly and Mare Turf and clinch an Eclipse Award as the female champion turf horse in North America.

This year, Sistercharlie had an issue in the spring, an illness that held her out of competition until July. But in two starts, she showed she’s just as good, if not better, than a year ago. Now, Sistercharlie enters the fall fresh, fit, and dangerous as she looks to win a second straight Breeders’ Cup and Eclipse Award.

Sistercharlie will prep for the Breeders’ Cup in Sunday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Flower Bowl Stakes, a 1 1/4-mile race in which she looms an overwhelming favorite. Sistercharlie enters the race off decisive victories in the Diana at Saratoga and Beverly D. at Arlington Park, running her winning streak in Grade 1 stakes to six straight.

“She got started a little later than we wanted, but she’s been brilliant nevertheless,” said Chad Brown, who trains Sistercharlie for Peter Brant. “We missed last year’s Flower Bowl with a little issue but this year she’s doing great. I really want to run her in the race and I think she’s doing well to run. She’s doing as good as ever.”

In preparation for the Flower Bowl, Sistercharlie has been working weekly with Bricks and Mortar, himself a winner of four Grade 1 stakes this year. The two have been virtually inseparable in their moves.

Sistercharlie figures to be a universal single on most players’ tickets in the Empire 6, a 20-cent base wager that figures to have a multi-million-dollar pool on Sunday as it is a mandatory payout day.

Sistercharlie does her best running from off the pace and she usually gets some assistance from stablemate Thais, who is entered in the Flower Bowl primarily to make sure the pace is legitimate. Thais has done her job to perfection in both the Diana and Beverly D.

If one is looking to nitpick Sistercharlie’s record, her only two losses in North America have come at Belmont, where she was beaten a neck by New Money Honey in the 2017 Belmont Oaks and by a head by Fourstarcrook in the 2018 New York Stakes.

Graham Motion sends out Mrs. Sippy and Empressof the Nile in the Flower Bowl. That pair finished one-two in the Grade 2 Glens Falls at Saratoga, which was Mrs. Sippy’s first start in the United States and for Motion.

“She couldn’t have run any more impressively than she did the other day,” Motion said. “I think she’s got to run back to that race. Yes, she’ll need to step up. What will help her is having the experience running over here. The first race for the Euros is always a little tricky. Joel [Rosario] knows her and has confidence in her.”

Motion said Empressof the Nile didn’t have a great trip in the Glens Falls “and she’s done particularly well since the race.”

Lantiz, second in the Ramsey Farm Stakes on Sept. 1 at Kentucky Downs, Beau Belle, and Ferdinanda complete the field.