Chasing Fourth Straight Win in One Mile Turf Test for 3YO Fillies

Sister Troienne Looks to Extend Streak in $175,000 Ginger Brew

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Woodslane Racing homebred Sister Troienne, who added a stakes victory to her growing resume last time out, chases a fourth consecutive win facing seven other newly turned 3-year-old fillies in Saturday’s $175,000 Cash Run at Gulfstream Park.

The 15th running of the Ginger Brew, scheduled for a two-turn mile on the grass, co-headlines an 11-race program with the $175,000 Mucho Macho Man for 3-year-olds on the main track, the first step on the road to the $1 million Curlin Florida Derby (G1) March 28.

First race post time is 12:20 p.m.

Sister Troienne, trained by Brian Lynch, began her career on the dirt finishing third in a six-furlong maiden special weight Aug. 23 at Ellis Park. She was then moved to the grass, where she rattled off back-to-back wins going one mile at Churchill Downs and 1 1/16 miles at Keeneland by eight combined lengths.

Stepped up to stakes company for the Wait a While on Thanksgiving Day, opening day of Gulfstream’s 2025-2026 Championship Meet, Sister Troienne faced both a cutback to one mile and 70 yards and a surface switch when rain forced the race off the grass to the all-weather Tapeta course. None of it mattered, as she rolled to a popular three-length triumph.

“I still wouldn’t hesitate to run her on the dirt if the occasion ever arose, but we’re not going to try to fix something that’s not broken at the moment,” Lynch said. “Once we put her on the grass, she rolled off a couple in a row and then [got] her win on the [Tapeta]. I think she can run on just about anything, that filly. I just think she’s a very nice filly.”

Half of the Ginger Brew’s first 14 winners have gone on to enjoy graded-stakes success including each of the last three and four of the last five. The millionaire Nitrogen, last year’s winner, developed into the top 3-year-old turf filly in the country with three graded triumphs on grass as well as a Grade 1 victory on dirt in the Alabama. She ended her sophomore campaign with runner-up finishes in the Spinster (G1) and Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1), also on the main track.

Interestingly, Lynch trained the race’s namesake for breeder-owner Stronach Stables. Ginger Brew placed in 13 of 15 career starts and earned $970,311 while registering six wins including the Calder Oaks in 2008, when she was voted Canada’s champion 3-year-old filly. She raced five times at Gulfstream with one win, two seconds and thirds in the 2008 Marshua’s River and 2009 Rampart (G2).

“We’re hoping that [Sister Troienne] really develops into a nice 3-year-old in the spring,” Lynch said. “There’s a nice series of 3-year-old filly races down here to sort of accomplish that, and you hope that by the time you leave here she’s hitting the straps and you’ve got the spring-summer series from Kentucky into New York.”

Mario Gutierrez, up for all four of her starts, rides back from Post 6 as the 8-5 program favorite.

Lynch also entered William Werner homebred Storm’s Wake (Post 1, 10-1), unraced since suffering her first career loss in the one-mile Our Dear Peggy Oct. 25 on the Gulfstream turf where she finished sixth as the favorite off a pair of thrilling come-from-behind victories the previous two months in Kentucky.

“She threw a bit of a clunker at us last time,” Lynch said. “We really didn’t know what to make of that, so we just sort of regrouped with her. She’s been working on a steady basis coming into the race and it seems like she’s doing well. I’d like to see her redeem herself because, other than the last race, she’s run well.”

Storm’s Wake is trip dependent being a closer but will have the services of jockey Nik Juarez for the fourth straight race.

“I shipped her down here and ran her straight off the van, so maybe that had a little bit to do with the last race, I’m not sure. But she’s been given some and seems like she’s doing really well,” Lynch said. “It’s always tough at Gulfstream because it’s sort of a front-end type track and it’s hard to make up a lot of ground unless the speed completely collapses. Hopefully she’s been tuned up a little bit and might lay a little bit closer and will have a lot better kick this time.”

The other stakes winner in the field is Peachtree Stable homebred Spirit Doll (Post 4, 2-1), who debuted at the course and distance with a dominant 6 ½-length victory in the Our Dear Peggy. Prior to that race she had run twice on dirt, capturing her unveiling by a head sprinting six furlongs at Saratoga before running sixth in the seven-furlong Spinaway (G1).

“She had trained well and she was a little disappointing in the Spinaway. She was stepping up big, but it was the right time after that to try grass and she was impressive – more impressive than we envisioned,” trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. said. “She has grass pedigree but she trained well on the dirt so that’s why we started there. After the bad performance it was more the timing of the race and being a stake than it was the surface at that point.”

Entered but withdrawn from the Wait a While due to the surface switch, Spirit Doll gets regular rider Edgard Zayas up from Post 4.

“We scratched her late last time when it came off the turf. We just didn’t want to gamble with Tapeta,” Joseph said. “She probably could run on it but, timing-wise, it was coming off such an emphatic victory and it was coming back a little quick anyway so we decided to wait for this one.”

Joseph will also be represented by Averill Racing and CCF Racing Stable’s R Slew of Cash (Post 3, 10-1), who returns to the turf after running third by 3 ¾ lengths in the Wait a While. Eight in her Sept. 4 debut at Kentucky Downs,she graduated by 1 ¼ lengths second time out going 7 ½ furlongs on the Our Dear Peggy undercard.

“She’s going to get back on the grass,” Joseph said. “I thought the last race was OK. We didn’t know how she would handle it, but she ran decent. I think she’s better on the grass, so she goes in there with a shot.”

REH’s Bert’s Knoty Girl (Post 2, 8-1) ran third or better in four of her five starts at 2 with both of her wins coming in her only two tries going one mile on the Gulfstream turf course, graduating by a neck Sept. 27 and beating winners by the same margin Dec. 6. Both came under apprentice Yelber Torres, who gets the return call from Post 2.

Completing the field are Bayou Brigid (Post 5, 30-1), third in the Our Dear Peggy at odds of 67-1; Laigina (Post 7, 15-1), a front-running maiden optional claiming winner in her turf debut Dec. 4 going 7 ½ furlongs at Gulfstream; and Tideoftime (Post 8, 9-2), most recently fourth in the 1 1/16-mile Chelsey Flower Nov. 6 on the grass at Aqueduct.