Sistercharlie falls short
Chad Brown-trained favorite settles for third in first race following 265-day layoff
The winning rider was ticked off. The losing trainer was happy.
That, in a nutshell, was the story of the Grade II, $200,000
Ballston Spa at Saratoga Race Course on Saturday afternoon.
Javier Castellano, the Hall of Fame jockey aboard the winner, Starship Jubilee, was annoyed with the starting gate crew because he banged his right foot on a stall door right before the race started. Chad Brown, the trainer of 2-5 favorite Sistercharlie, was not kicking garbage cans after his champion mare managed just a third-place finish.
The Ballston Spa, a 11/16-mile race on the inner turf course for fillies and mares aged 3 and up, was the return race of Sistercharlie, a marvelous 6-year-old mare who had won seven of 10 starts for Brown — all Grade Is — and won the Eclipse Award as the nation’s best turf female in 2018. She holds a special place in the Mechanicville’ trainer’s heart.
As good as she has been, Brown knew this was going to be a stern test for Sistercharlie. The race Saturday was her first in 265 days when she finished
third in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita. After the Breeders’ Cup, she missed some time because of what Brown said was bone bruising.
“I knew if she was ever going to be vulnerable, it was going to be this race,” Brown said.
After a half-mile of the race, Sistercharlie was in fourth place in the fivehorse field, behind by 141/2 lengths. She and her Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez did make up some ground and finished 11/4 lengths behind secondplace finisher Call Me Love, who got beat by a neck by Starship Jubilee.
Brown watched Sistercharlie as she galloped out and thought she did it well.
“She ran a great race, she just came up a little short,” Brown said. “She lost a lot of ground on the turn and it was too much for her to overcome off a layoff. I look forward to running her back in the Diana.”
That would be the Grade I $500,000 Diana on Aug. 23. Sistercharlie has won that race for the past two years.
While this was the first race for Sistercharlie in nearly nine months, Starship Jubilee was making her fourth start of 2020 (she won the first three) and Call Me Love was in her third race of the year.
“These were some nice fillies that finished ahead of her,” Brown said. “I think (Sistercharlie) will get a lot out of this.”
Castellano was happy to get the victory but the way it started was what had him hot.
His horse was the final to be loaded into the starting gate and Castellano felt the assistant starters were in too much of a rush to get things going.
“I was totally not ready and the horse broke sideways,” Castellano said. “My (right) foot hit the door and it was very painful every step of the race. I was disappointed with the starting gate group. The reason they are there is to help the jockeys and help the horses.”
With his foot throbbing, Castellano had to focus on the task at hand. He and Starship Jubilee, who shipped in from Canada, reeled in pacesetter North Broadway, also a Brown horse, and took the lead in the stretch. They had enough to hold off Call Me Love, who was ridden by Joel Rosario and trained by Christophe Clement. Starship Jubilee, a 7-year-old mare, is trained by Kevin Attard, but he was unable to be at the Spa because of COVID-19 restrictions.
Starship Jubilee was saddled by Hall of Famer Shug Mcgaughey.
Starship Jubilee could also be seen next in the Diana.
“To beat Sistercharlie, she is one of the best fillies in the country,” Castellano said. “I think we were in the right time and the right place to beat her. I give all the credit to my horse.”
Starship Jubilee ran the 11/16 miles in a time of 1:41.76 and she returned $8.20 and $5.10. There was no show wagering.
Grade I Vanderbilt
A season ago, trainer Steve Asmussen trained the best sprinter in the country in the now-retired Mitole. It hasn’t taken him long to find a capable replacement.
Asmussen’s Volatile, owned by Three Chimneys Farm and Phoenix Thoroughbred III, made his first appearance in a Grade I race and won the 36th running of the $250,000 Alfred Vanderbilt on Saturday. With the win, the 4-year-old gray son of Violence ran his record to five wins in six career starts. This year, he is unbeaten in three tries. This was his first graded stake.
“We saw the first two races from him this year and they were absolutely brilliant,” Asmussen said. “I feel very good about getting those races into him before he met accomplished horses like this. From an ability or speed level, he has it all.”
Volatile had won his two prior starts this year by a combined 151/2 lengths. In the Vanderbilt, he was facing accomplished runners like Mind Control, Firenze Fire and Whitmore. They could not catch Volatile, who was able to sneak off and set slow fractions. He and jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. ran the first quarter-mile in 23.46 seconds and the half in 46.67 seconds. Game over.
“For a Grade I sprint race to be allowed that first quarter was very fortunate,” Asmussen said. “Once he was away from the gate smoothly and they threw up that first quarter, he would be awfully hard to beat.”
The most anxious moments for the winning team came before the race started. Whitmore and jockey Joel Rosario, who would finish second, broke through the gate before the start and another horse, Lexitonian, was a veterinarian scratch at the gate. That reduced the field to four.
“(Whitmore) was a little nervous inside (the gate) and one of the horses on the outside moved and he just went through the gate,” Rosario said. “He’s a kind horse and easy to ride, so he broke out of there, but he wasn’t going anywhere.”
Volatile’s final time was 1:09.61 and he paid $2.80 and $2.10. There was no show betting.
Mind Control was a half-length behind Whitmore and Firenze Fire finished a neck behind in fourth.