Sister Troienne Keeps Rolling into $175,000 Sweetest Chant

Chasing Fifth Straight Win, Third Stakes, in 1 1/16M Turf Test

HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Woodslane Racing homebred Sister Troienne, undefeated since moving to the grass last fall, goes after her fifth consecutive win and third straight in a stakes in Saturday’s $175,000 Sweetest Chant presented by Daily Racing Form at Gulfstream Park.

The 31st running of the Sweetest Chant for 3-year-old fillies scheduled to go 1 1/16 miles on the grass is the fourth of five stakes, two graded, worth $950,000 in purses on a 12-race program, falling between the $175,000 Forward Gal (G3) for 3-year-old fillies on the main track and $250,000 Holy Bull (G3) for 3-year-olds on the road to the $1 million Curlin Florida Derby (G1).

First race post time is 12:15 p.m.

Trainer Brian Lynch has been thrilled with the development of Sister Troienne, a daughter of Munnings that ran third in her debut last summer on the dirt at Ellis Park. Moved to the turf in early fall, she has reeled off four straight wins by a combined 12 ¾ lengths.

Her health and attitude have convinced Lynch to keep on rolling with Sister Troienne, whose longest time between starts was 38 days from the Nov. 27 Wait a While, which she won going a mile and 70 yards over the all-weather Tapeta course on opening day of the Championship Meet, to the Jan. 3 Ginger Brew at one mile on the grass.

“Sometimes after four wins in a row you think, ‘Do I need to give her a little break? Am I doing too much with her right now?’” Lynch said. “But she seems to be just thriving on racing and, after her last work the other day, she’s been very, very sharp. She seems to come into this one as good as we’ve ever had her.”

Sister Troienne already owns a win at the distance, that coming on an opening allowance over a Keeneland turf rated good last October.

“That was one of her more impressive races,” Lynch said. “Winning form is good form and she seems to have a nice little pattern going right now. This race is over a mile and sixteenth so that’s another thing I’m looking forward to. I think the further you run this filly the better she is.”

Mario Gutierrez, up for all five of her races, gets the return call. They will break from Post 8 in a field of 11 as the 2-1 program favorite.

Lynch also entered William Werner homebred Storm’s Wake (Post 6, 8-1), a winner of her first two starts before finishing sixth in the one-mile Our Dear Peggy last October on the Gulfstream turf. Most recently she got up to be third to her stablemate in the Ginger Brew, beaten just 2 ½ lengths.

“I thought she ran a very sneaky good race,” Lynch said. “From the inside there we were hoping she’d be able to hold her position going into the first turn, but she got shuffled back to last when they straightened down the backside and then she got checked again, and then she was really closing well. I think there’s a lot more to that filly than we’ve seen.”

Breaking from outermost Post 11 as the 7-2 second choice on the morning line is Peachtree Stable’s homebred Spirit Doll, one of two in the race from Championship Meet co-leading trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. Spirit Doll made her first two starts on dirt, graduating at first asking sprinting six furlongs in a restricted maiden special weight at Saratoga. She pulled clear through the stretch to win the Our Dear Peggy in her turf debut following a disappointing effort in the Spinaway (G1).

Joseph also entered C2 Racing Stable, BAG Racing Stables, Barry Fowler and Mark Taylor’s Day to Day (Post 5, 15-1), a distant fourth in __text in bold__the Spinaway who has raced twice on the grass – a debut maiden triumph in July at Colonial Downs and the Oct. 4 Miss Grillo (G2), where she ran eighth. She set the pace in the Wait a While before settling for second in the Wait a While, beaten three lengths by Sister Troienne.

Trainer Graham Motion won the then-Grade 3 Sweetest Chant in 2018 with Theywayiam, and is represented by Alex Campbell Jr. Thoroughbreds’ Brat Pack (Post 3, 12-1). In just two starts, the daughter of 2017 Horse of the Year and 2024 Hall of Famer Gun Runner was second going a mile Nov. 22 on the Laurel Park turf before graduating with a determined neck victory going 1 1/16 miles over a Gulfstream turf rated good on Christmas Eve.

Motion is familiar with Brat Pack through her mother, Ultra Brat, who he trained to six wins from 15 starts including the 2016 Tropical Park Oaks and 2018 Marshua’s River (G3) on the Gulfstream turf as well as the 2018 Gallorette (G3) on the grass at Pimlico.

“She’s got a really strong pedigree [and] she can be kind of a little tricky in the mornings,” Motion said. “I think it’s a big step up for her going against winners in a stake, but she’s out of a really good family. I trained her mom and she just got beat in the [2018] Diana [G1]. This filly, she’s always acted like a good filly so it’s a great opportunity to try and get some black type.”

Also entered are One Sweet Girl (Post 1, 12-1), a winner of three straight for co-leading trainer Carlos David; Surprise Ending (Post 2, 8-1), a one-mile debut winner Jan. 4 on the Gulfstream turf in her lone start; Spicy Princess (Post 4, 30-1), fourth as a maiden in the Our Dear Peggy that graduated by a nose on the Tapeta Jan. 18 in her eighth start; Bert’s Knoty Girl (Post 7, 20-1), fifth in the Ginger Brew; My Lady JBella (Post 9, 30-1) and Aggressive Lime (Post 10, 9-2), a two-time winner on the grass last fall in Kentucky for trainer Brad Cox.

The Sweetest Chant honors the Joe Bollero trainee that wintered three years at Gulfstream Park and won four times including the 1982 Rampart and 1983 Orchid Handicap (G2) in what would be her career finale.