Top turf mares Uni, SIstercharlie may both get 2020 campaigns

Two of trainer Chad Brown’s biggest mares in training may not be done.

After Uni beat the boys Saturday in the Breeders’ Cup Mile and Sistercharlie finished third as the Filly & Mare Turf favorite, owners of both expressed interest in bringing their horses back for 2020 campaigns.

Sol Kumin, a piece of the partnership behind 5-year-old Uni, called it a “no brainer” to campaign next year, saying that decision has already been made with fellow owners Robert LaPenta, Michael Dubb and Bethlehem Stables.

“And then we talked about potentially trying to go to Ascot, after the race Tepin went to,” said Kumin, speaking of the Queen Anne (G1), which Tepin won the season after her 2015 Breeders’ Cup Mile win at Keeneland. “…We’ll have to do some arm twisting with Chad to see if it will happen. But it's definitely something that's on the table.”

Brown, who has won just about everything on turf in the U.S., has never saddled a runner at England’s prestigious Royal Ascot meeting.

Uni, a British-bred daughter of More Than Ready, has won seven of her last eight starts. She avenged the only loss in that span — in Saratoga’s Fourstardave (G1), to fellow female Got Stormy — at the Breeders’ Cup.

“A big question now, honestly, is do you give her a break or do you go back and try to win the Matriarch again?” Kumin pondered. “Maybe she has a chance to be champion.”

Uni won last year’s winter feature at Del Mar, then took time off until returning to win Belmont Park’s Perfect Sting in late June. The 2019 Matriarch (G1) runs Dec. 1.

Competition for that championship comes from the same barn. Sistercharlie, another 5-year-old, won her three 2019 starts in exclusively Grade 1 company before defeated Saturday at Santa Anita.

“I don’t have any major excuses other than it seems like it’s a pretty firm turf, and if you’re not in the mix turning for home, it’s going to be hard to win on it,” Brown said after Sistercharlie finished 2 1/2 lengths behind the winner, Iridessa, in the Filly & Mare Turf. “This was her first time running here and this might not be her course.”

Brown said that when it comes to the prospects of a 2020 campaign, “we have the luxury of waiting and observing her” over the next couple of months. Owner Peter Brant could decide to breed her or send the reigning champion — possibly in line to become a two-time Eclipse Award winner — back to the track.

Before the Breeders’ Cup, Sistercharlie won the Diana (G1) off a layoff, repeated in Arlington Park’s Beverly D. (G1) and prepped successfully in the Flower Bowl (G1) at Belmont.

“I’ll see how she comes back and we’ll see what we’ll do,” Brant said. “She’s very special. We might try and keep her in training, we’ll see.”