Sistercharlie goes for sixth straight G1 in Flower Bowl

NYRA Press Office ELMONT, N.Y. >> Trainer Chad Brown’s Sistercharlie will look to add another Grade 1 victory to her robust resume on Sunday at Belmont Park when she contests the $500,000 Flower Bowl Invitational for fillies and mares at 1 ¼ miles on turf, a “Win and You’re In” event for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf on November 2 at Santa Anita Park.

The Flower Bowl is part of a sensational day of racing at Belmont on Sunday - the second day of the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Racing Festival - that features two other Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” events: the Grade 1, $400,000 Frizette [Juvenile Fillies] and the Grade 3, $150,000 Futurity [Juvenile Turf Sprint]. The card will be broadcast live on America’s Day at the Races from 2:00 - 5:30 p.m. Eastern on FS2, with regional coverage airing on MSG Networks from 4:00 6:00 p.m.

The brilliant Sistercharlie, who has finished out of the exacta just once in her 13-race career and amassed $3.7 million in earnings, enters the Flower Bowl on an incredible string of five straight Grade 1 victories, which began in July of last year in the Grade 1 Diana at Saratoga Race Course. The bay mare commenced her North American tour de force in 2017, when she finished a close second in the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks in July after previously having raced in France, though she failed to make another start in her sophomore year.

In 2018, the daughter of Irish stallion Myboycharlie returned a much-improved animal, taking the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley in her seasonal bow before finishing a game second in the Grade 2 New York at Belmont. Following her Diana victory, she won the Grade 1 Beverly D. at Arlington Park in August before capturing the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf to close out her 4-year-old campaign.

The Peter Brant colorbearer has followed a nearly identical progression in the second half of 2019, beginning her truncated season with dominant wins in the Diana and the Beverly D., but unlike last year she will make a stop at Belmont for the Flower Bowl before a possible date in the Filly and Mare Turf.

Sistercharlie drew post 2 in the seven-horse field and will be ridden again by Hall of Famer John Velazquez.

Sistercharlie will be joined on Sunday by a familiar face, her stablemate Thais, who set the pace in both the Diana and Beverly D. Also owned by Brant and trained by Brown, Thais will be ridden by Manny Franco and the pair will leave from post 5.

Looking to upset the presumptive heavy favorite, trainer Graham Motion will send out a pair of capable runners, Mrs. Sippy and Empressof the Nile, who will look to build off a one-two finish in the Grade 2 Glens Falls on August 31 at the Spa. Making her North American debut in the Glens Falls, Mrs. Sippy was sent off at 6-1 odds but turned in a decisive, winning move to best her stablemate by three-quarters of a length.