SISTERCHARLIE RETURNS IN STYLE TO WIN THE DIANA STAKES AGAIN- GAME WINNER GETS BACK TO THE WINNERS CIRCLE

SISTERCHARLIE

The superstar mare SISTERCHARLIE returned to action over the weekend at Saratoga to repeat last year’s win in the Grade One Diana Stakes after an eight month break since her win in the Breeders Cup Filly and Mare Turf. Going off as the 15-8 second choice in the six horse field,she swooped home in the final furlong to edge classy stablemate Rushing Falls and win going away by 1¾ lengths. Winning jockey was John Velazquez, and he has been aboard the five year-old daughter of Myboycharlie in all of her seven stateside starts. She has won five of them and been second in the other two for lifetime earnings of $2.85 with a lot more to come barring injury. According to Brown who was winning the race for the fifth time, Sistercharlie will next be seen in the Beverly D Stakes at Arlington Park on August 1Oth along with stablemate Homerique who finished third in the Diana.

GAME WINNER

Meanwhile about one hour later on the West Coast, GAME WINNER took the Los Alamitos Derby over three outclassed rivals to set himself up for a run next month in the Travers Stakes at Saratoga on August 24th. It was his first race since an unsatisfactory effort in the Kentucky Derby where he had a troubled trip and finished fifth. This was a much easier effort for the son of Candy Ride who was wearing blinkers for the first time. After a leisurely first few furlongs where he lay third most of the way, he took the lead halfway in the very long stretch and pulled away to win easily. It was his first win in 2019 and he now has five victories in eight starts with earnings of just over $2 million. It was also the ninth Los Alamitos Derby for trainer Bob Baffert who started his career here as a quarter horse trainer. The winner by the way, went off at the prohibitive odds of 1-20, hardly making for a lively betting market which is the lifeline for tracks in California these days.