Eye on the Oaks: Sarah Sis

Sarah Sis captures her first stakes victory in the Grade 3 Honeybee at Oaklawn Park. (Photos by Coady Photography)
The sister race to the Kentucky Derby, the $1-million, 1 1/8-mile Kentucky Oaks is held annually at Churchill Downs on the Friday before the Derby and restricted to 3-year-old fillies (young female horses). Eye on the Oaks, which will run through the 2015 edition of the race, takes a closer look at fillies who have won important races and could make an impact as we move toward the first Friday in May.
This week we take a closer look at Sarah Sis, winner of the March 7 Honeybee Stakes at Oaklawn Park.

Sarah Sis played second fiddle in her first two starts as a sophomore but finally broke through to score in Oaklawn’s Grade 3 Honeybee Stakes. The 50 points she earned for the win boosted her into third place on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks leaderboard.
Racing Résumé
Sarah Sis absolutely dominated her debut last August, winning a six furlong maiden special by 11 ¾ lengths over Arlington Park’s all-weather surface for trainer Ingrid Mason and owner Joe Ragsdale. She was next sent off the even-money favorite in the Arlington-Washington Lassie Stakes but finished second to Quality Rocks that day. Quality Rocks has since placed in a pair of Grade 2 contests and most recently won the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Oaks.
Turned back to allowance company Sarah Sis was again dominant, this time on the Keeneland dirt in what would be her final start as a 2-year-old. She scored a career-best 91 Equibase speed figure for the 4 ¼-length win.
Sarah Sis kicked off her sophomore season with a neck loss to Promise Me Silver, a filly who is currently undefeated in six starts, in the Dixie Belle Stakes in January. She wheeled back just 16 days later to face champion Take Charge Brandi in the Martha Washington Stakes and nearly pulled off the upset, settling off the pace and making a big run at the champ but just missing in a head loss.
2015 MARTHA WASHINGTON STAKES

Video courtesy Horse Racing YouTube channel
There was no Take Charge Brandi to contend with in the Honeybee and Promise Me Silver scratched, but Sarah Sis still did not go off the favorite. That honor belonged to Oceanwave, first choice at 5-to-2, with bettors also favoring Pangburn over Sarah Sis.
Fourth-choice Super Saks broke on top and sprinted to a seven-length advantage early in the race while Sarah Sis and jockey Julio Felix were content to sit off the pace alongside Desert Valley. When Super Saks began to tire after a half-mile in :46.36, the duo advanced steadily to strike the front in the far turn. Sarah Sis quickly opened up a five-length lead and finished under wraps, crossing the wire 1 1/2 lengths in front of Oceanwave.
SARAH SIS STRIKES THE FRONT IN THE HONEYBEE

Photo by Coady Photography
Felix was never concerned as the race progressed.
“I wasn’t worried because I knew [Super Saks] was going too fast up there because my filly broke like a rocket,” Felix said to the Daily Racing Form. “When she opened up on me, my filly kind of got off the pace, and I was pretty happy at that point.”
Running Style
Sarah Sis began her career as a front-runner but seems to have morphed into a stalker type in her three starts as a 3-year-old. She closed from fifth and sixth in her first two starts of the year, but when she did break quickly in the Honeybee, Sarah Sis had no trouble relaxing to let another filly make the pace. This adaptability is helpful in a route race such as the 1 1/8-mile Kentucky Oaks where she should be able adjust according to how the race unfolds.

Previous Editions ofEye on the Oaks 
Seduire
Take Charge Brandi
I'm a Chatterbox
Birdatthewire
Callback
Overprepared
Angela Renee
Condo Commando
Stellar Wind

Pedigree
Sarah Sis was bought for $10,000 as a yearling and a $20,000 purchase as a 2-year-old in training, with the prices due in part to her modest breeding. The dark bay filly is a daughter of Sharp Humor out of the winning Gilded Time mare Emerald Gal.
As a runner Sharp Humor’s biggest win was the Grade 2 Swale Stakes, and as a sire his offspring include Peruvian champion Good Shine, longshot Louisiana Derby winner Hero of Order and multiple stakes winner Angelica Zapata. Hero of Order, Angelica Zapata and other Sharp Humor offspring have been successful at routing distances despite the sire’s biggest success coming at distances of a mile or less. Sharp Humor stood his last season in Kentucky in 2011 before being sold for stud duty in Korea.
Sarah Sis’s first dam, Emerald Gal, won at 1 1/16 miles and her other foal to race is also a winner at a mile. Second dam Wancha Back threw three winners from four starters, but one has to go back to Sarah Sis’s third dam to find most of her pedigree’s class.
Third dam Wancha was stakes-placed and her foal Isitingood earned more than $1.2 million by capturing multiple graded stakes. Wancha’s stakes-placed daughter Half Mast threw stakes winners Howaboutrightnow, R Obsession and Get Noticed. In all, 11 black-type horses appear under Wancha and eight black-type horses are under Sarah Sis’s fourth dam Gold Idol.
Sarah Sis is a gritty filly who has shown the versatility needed to succeed on the grueling Road to the Kentucky Oaks. She’s already faced some classy foes and if she continues to improve, she is one to keep an eye on come May 1.