Getting to Know Sheer Drama

Sheer Drama earned a spot in the Breeders' Cup Distaff starting gate with her win in Saratoga's Personal Ensign Stakes. (Photos by Eclipse Sportswire)
A sneaky good older female this year has been Sheer Drama, who hasn’t finished worse than second in seven starts. Winning a Grade 1 in July, she bettered herself on August 29 when not only taking another Grade 1 but earning a spot in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff with her victory in the Personal Ensign.
Sheer Drama’s pedigree has always shown that she should be a star but it took the mare some time to get to the top of the sport. With her spot in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff secure, let’s get to know the mare who may be one of the favorites in the Oct. 30 race.
Race Résumé
Sheer Drama made her racing debut in the middle of her 3-year-old year, winning in her third start before airmailing by 8 ¾ lengths in her fourth start. Over the next year and a half, she found success in allowance races and some ungraded stakes. Her first stakes win came in the Thirty Eight Go Go Stakes last September where she earned by far her biggest Equibase Speed Figure to that date with a 112 (nine points better than her second highest to that point).
But it wasn’t until this year that her figures stayed in the 100s.
Sheer Drama started her season with a second place behind subsequent Grade 1 winner Dame Dorothy. That was followed by a second-place finish behind House Rules in the Rampart with a 112 figure. But the third time this year was the charm for Sheer Drama and it came in a big way with her winning by 6 ½ lengths over House Rules and Molly Morgan, who won a Grade 1 in her next start. That Grade 1 win actually came over Sheer Drama in the La Troienne, where Sheer Drama was making her Grade 1 debut.
SHEER DRAMA WINS THE DELAWARE HANDICAP

Frivolous got the best of her a month later in the Fleur de Lis, but Sheer Drama got the last laugh. Meeting up with Frivolous and five others in the Delaware Handicap in mid-July, Sheer Drama earned a 113 when winning by two lengths.
On Aug. 29, Sheer Drama went off as the third choice (albeit at 3.40-to-1 odds) at Saratoga in the Personal Ensign against two of the top older females on the East Coast, Untapable and Stopchargingmaria. Sitting behind those two as they dueled in front, Sheer Drama took over in the stretch and pulled off a 1 ¼-length victory for a 107 speed figure.
2015 PERSONAL ENSIGN STAKES

Video courtesy of The New York Racing Association
Sheer Drama is one of those horses who people love because she is versatile. Her preferred running style is to sit a few lengths off the leader in second or third but she has won races from taking over the lead early on in the race. She has even run well from the back of the field. In the Sunshine Millions Distaff, she was 12th and 10th during the first two calls and closed well to finish second. That may not be her preferred running style but she has proven that she can definitely adapt if needed in a race.
Distance in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff also shouldn’t be a problem for Sheer Drama. The Distaff is 1 1/8 miles, a distance she has won at multiple times including the Personal Ensign. She has not yet run at Keeneland in her career but has raced at eight different tracks (and ships to each of them from Gulfstream Park near Miami with no problems) so adding that track to her resume shouldn’t be a problem.
Sheer Drama’s versatile running style will be a big asset in the Breeders’ Cup as all the other North American Win and You’re In horses are either pacemakers or horses who sit right off the pace. But while she can run from farther back, Sheer Drama is more comfortable closer up to the pace so it’s hard to imagine her connections will want to alter that going into the biggest race of her career.
Pedigree
In most female families Sheer Drama would be the golden child for her accomplishments, but she isn’t from most families.
Sheer Drama is the apple of her sire’s eye with Burning Roma only having 163 starters and Sheer Drama being his only Grade 1 winner. Her full brother Little Drama and full sister Queen Drama both are stakes winners as well.
Burning Roma was also raced by Sheer Drama’s owner-breeder Harold Queen and won 12 stakes for him, including the 2000 Grade 1 Futurity. Winning stakes races on both dirt and turf, Burning Roma was able to win a stakes race at six furlongs and a Grade 2 at 1 1/8 miles so like his daughter, he wasn’t a one show pony.
Sheer Drama’s dam Riveting Drama is a sneaky good broodmare.
Riveting Drama is the dam of champion sprinter and 2010 Sentient Jet Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner Big Drama. By Montbrook, Big Drama didn’t have his sister’s stamina with most of his wins coming at under a mile, although he did have two wins at 1 1/16 miles as a 2-year-old.
BIG DRAMA

Mentioned above were Little Drama and Queen Drama, both full siblings to Sheer Drama. Both of those siblings don’t seem to have their sister’s stamina with Little Drama never winning at longer than seven furlongs, even when given multiple chances at longer races. Queen Drama won at six and seven furlongs and at her only race over a mile was sixth, so it can probably be assumed that she wasn’t a big fan of longer races either.
Drama’s Way is another Sheer Drama half-sibling who won at the stakes level but again that came at the sprint distance so it seems like Sheer Drama is the only one who thrives at going longer.
Sheer Drama’s second dam hasn’t done much with anyone other than Riveting Drama’s family but under her third and fourth dams she has nine stakes winners in the family.
The Distaff is currently in limbo with Beholder’s connections undecided if they’ll go to the Distaff or Classic with that mare (she has Win and You’re In berths to both races). If Beholder runs in the Classic, Sheer Drama will be a hard horse to beat in the Distaff and even with Beholder in the Distaff, Sheer Drama will be hard to beat for on-the-board spots.
Sheer Drama has beaten the toughest fillies on the East Coast and outside of Beholder there’s not much to worry about on the West Coast, making Sheer Drama look like a good pick for the race as long as she stays in form over the next few months.