Sisterly Love continues love affair with Polytrack in Doubledogdare

Gary Barber's Sisterly Love was just honored as Canada's champion older

female during the Sovereign Awards on April 11 at Woodbine, but the six-year-old

mare wasn't content to sit on her laurels. Instead, she showed up at Keeneland

on Friday to upset 3-5 favorite and three-time Grade 1 queen Emollient in the

Grade 3, $100,000

Doubledogdare Stakes under the hot-riding Stewart Elliot.

"I had a great trip. She was comfortable the whole way," Elliott stated. "On

the far turn, I looked over and saw Mike (Smith on Emollient) and

it looked like he was asking her already. I said, 'Man, I got a chance. I still

have some horse left.' And I did. She finished up."

Sisterly Love had one more start on the year than Emollient, who just

returned on March 16 to be fourth in Santa Anita Park's Santa Ana following a

close run to fill that same spot in last November's Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare

Turf. By comparison, Sisterly Love made her seasonal bow on February 16 in the

Bayakoa at Oaklawn Park, finishing a well-beaten sixth, then returned two weeks

ago to take a 1 1/16-mile allowance by 2 1/4 lengths on Keeneland's opening day.

The Mark Casse trainee utilized front-running tactics that day, and attempted

to duplicate that effort in the Doubledogdare. The bay mare shot straight to the

front from her midpack 7 post but found company in the form of Emollient, who

sped up on the outside to race in tandem with Sisterly Love on the backstretch

while setting splits of :23 4/5, :47 1/5 and 1:11 4/5. The two game mares

continued duking it out in the stretch, with Sisterly Love gaining a slim margin

over her rival.

Sisterly Love paid $18 to win as the 8-1 third pick in the 10-distaffer

field. Moment in Dixie, sent off the second longest shot on the board at 25-1,

had a neck to spare over Emollient, while Strathnaver completed the superfecta

another length back in fourth. Finishing the order under the wire were Solid

Appeal, Ire, Noble Charlotte, Gold Medal Dancer, Sisterhood and Pearl Turn.

Sisterly Love's stablemate Dixie Strike -- who beat the boys last year in the

second leg of Canada's Triple Crown, the Breeders' Stakes -- was withdrawn.

"(I'm) disappointed, the reason being is she's on the

surface supposedly that we think she likes a lot," Mike Smith admitted about

Emollient. "We got away from the gate

really well and she was well within herself around the first turn and down the

backside.

"You know, last year she would have just blown the race open and I was

looking for her to do that going into the turn. She just didn't fire her 'A'

race at all."

Now boasting a 7-1-1 mark from 14 career starts, Sisterly Love has banked

$427,004 in lifetime earnings. The bay mare earned her recent Sovereign Award by

taking the Ontario Matron and Trillium while placing in the Belle Mahone and

Houston Ladies Classic last season. Her win in the Doubledogdare could be the

start of another award-winning season.