Trainer Jack Sisterson relishing first stakes win

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Jack Sisterson was part of many stakes victories as an assistant to Doug O’Neill. Last Friday, at Aqueduct, he won his first stakes as a head trainer when Oxy Lady upset the Grade 2, $150,000 Tempted Stakes by five lengths at 36-1. Over a slow track, she earned a 96 Beyer for running a mile in 1:38.88.

Sisterson and his brother Liam – visiting from England – flew from Kentucky to New York Friday morning to watch Oxy Lady run. With fog enveloping the track, they watched from the rail where they could only see the last sixteenth of a mile. That was the best part of the race.

“We didn’t quite expect that performance but we thought she’d move forward adding blinkers,” said Sisterson, who trains privately for Calumet Farm.

Sisterson said that while the Grade 2, $250,000 Demoiselle at Aqueduct on Dec. 1 “is definitely an option” for Oxy Lady, so is the Grade 1, $300,00 Starlet at Los Alamitos on Dec. 8.

“She run such a big number, I don’t want to run her back too quick,” said Sisterson, who had the filly back with him at Keeneland. “You worry off that performance running her back quick, would she bounce on us? We’ll make sure she’s 100 percent ready to run another big race before we run her, but she came out of the race in great shape.”

If Sisterson takes Oxy Lady to California for the Starlet, he would be returning to the state where he worked for O’Neill for several years.

“Doug always follows every runner we have and he was the first to text congratulations,” Sisterson said.