Chad Brown will start an enviable quartet of starters in an attempt to win his fifth Maker's Mark Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf at Keeneland this Saturday. Brown previously won with Zagora (2012), Dayatthespa (2014), Stephanie's Kitten (2015 at Keeneland) and Sistercharlie (2018). All four of his runners galloped a routine circuit of the Keeneland main track Thursday morning.
Sistercharlie once again leads the charge, being arguably the most accomplished of his runners and a seven-time G1 winner. She hopes to improve upon her third at 4-5 odds in last year's edition, while also improving from her two disappointing runs this season – thirds in both the Ballston Spa and Diana at Saratoga.
“I see her really coming around and is training as well as she has all year,” Brown said. “Her last three breezes in particular have been excellent. I think she's going to really appreciate the mile and three-sixteenths and having enough ground to get there. She drew well (in post two).
“I just think she was really rusty that first start back and had not run in a really long time,” Brown continued. “I probably undertrained her knowing that she's six and knowing in the back of your mind that she's had a lot of career breezes and I don't want to get her injured in the morning, so I probably undertrained her a little bit and that was fine, because I knew that first race back wasn't in any way a goal of ours. I think her second race she really ran well (post six) and it set her up for this.”
Rushing Fall, also a previous Breeders' Cup winner when taking the 2017 Juvenile Fillies Turf, is a six-time G1 winner who will be closing out her career by running the farthest she has attempted (9.5 furlongs) in the Filly & Mare Turf. A winner of 11 of 14 lifetime, she has won five of six over this turf course and three of her four attempts at nine furlongs, just short of this trip.
Brown: “I think Rushing Fall drew well and is another one where unfortunately this is it for her. She's had a nice career and hopefully she breaks well and has a nice trip from there. You do (worry about the distance), but we've been in this position before – Dayatthespa comes to mind and she had never tried a mile and a quarter – but sometimes the first time you try it is the best time you'll ever run at it. Frankel used to tell me that.”
My Sister Nat and Nay Lady Nay both exit the Flower Bowl Invitational at Belmont, finishing second and third behind Civil Union, who reopposes on Saturday. My Sister Nat is a half-sister to Sistercharlie with proven G1 form on both sides of the Atlantic, while Nay Lady Nay is the youngest of the quartet, at four years old, and has been incrementally stepping up in class in 2020. Both are graded winners who appear to be in top form, but must take on the tall task of beating their aforementioned stablemates and others at the G1 level.
“(My Sister Nat) may have to be used a bit early to get some sort of position (from post 13 of 14),” Brown said. “I think that's the key. It took her a while to acclimate, but she's coming around quickly and I have never seen her doing this well. On numbers, she's going to have to really take a jump forward to land in the winner's circle. She's very different from Sistercharlie. They might both come off the pace, but that's where it ends. They look different and I think Sistercharlie can get into gear quicker and has a bigger stronger better turn of foot, but My Sister Nat is trying to close the gap a little bit and get into the Grade 1 races now. She's turning six next season and it's quite possible she could run next year.
“(Nay Lady Nay) is going to have to tuck in early,” Brown continued. “She's a long shot as it is. At a mile and three-sixteenths it might be stretching it for her. I think her only chance to grab a piece of this is to tuck in off the break and kind of work her way through traffic during the course of the race. I do think there's a little more there. She just continues to grow and get stronger and does everything you like to see year to year. Some of these horses, they look the same as when they were babies, so I think there's a little more in the tank. Ultimately, I think she's best at a tick shorter than this, which is where we see her fastest numbers.”
The post Brown’s Filly & Mare Turf Quartet: Sistercharlie ‘Really Coming Around,’ Rushing Fall ‘Drew Well’ appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
