Sarah Sis Just Holds On to Take Iowa Oaks
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Joe Ragsdale's Sarah Sis established the early lead and just held off the fast-closing Pangburn to win the $200,000 Iowa Oaks (gr. III) June 27 at Prairie Meadows Racetrack & Casino.
With Julio Felix riding for trainer Ingrid Mason, Sarah Sis set a pressured pace but held on to win the 1 1/16-mile stakes for 3-year-old fillies in 1:45.17 on a track rated fast. Pangburn finished a nose behind in second, with Sweetgrass third.
Sarah Sis paid $5.20 to win as the favorite in the race for 3-year-old fillies.
It was the second graded-stakes victory for Sarah Sis, who captured the grade III Honeybee Stakes earlier this year at Oaklawn Park. The filly by Sharp Humor out of the Gilded Time mare Emerald Gal was bred in Kentucky by Dr. Catherine Renee White.
"She was very relaxed today," Felix said. "It was kind of a pressured pace but she shook everybody off."
"We were all praying," Mason said of the close finish. "A mile and a sixteenth is probably further than she wants to go. Seven furlongs is probably her best distance, so we're looking at a seven furlong stakes (next time out)."
Sarah Sis now has five wins and three seconds in 10 starts. She prepped for the Iowa Oaks with a win in the Panthers Stakes May 30 at Prairie Meadows.