Sarah Sis to Ballerina

Chicago-trained Sarah Sis (Sharp Humor), last-out winner of the GIII Iowa Oaks at Prairie Meadows June 27, will make the trip to Saratoga to face older filly-and-mare sprinters in the seven-furlong GI Ballerina S. Aug. 29, trainer Ingrid Mason confirmed Saturday.

“She’s going to New York [Sunday],” Mason said. “We were going to run her in the [GI] Test S. [Aug. 8] but she choked, which means she had a blockage in her esophagus. She was obviously off her feed at that point and wasn’t right to ship. Since then, she’s cleared up fine.”

A two-time winner at sprint distances, the bay filly was a game second to champion Take Charge Brandi (Giant’s Causeway) in the Jan. 31 Martha Washington S. at Oaklawn Park before adding a 1 1/2-length success in that track’s GIII Honeybee S. Mar. 7. Fifth to Include Betty (Include) in the GIII Fantasy S. Apr. 4, she was eased home in the GI Kentucky Oaks May 1, but bounced back quickly to win the May 30 Panthers S. in Central Iowa before adding the Oaks.

“She’s training really well and obviously running against older is tough,” Mason explained. “Eventually she’ll have to run against them anyway, so you can’t always avoid them. Granted there are some in there who are going to be very tough, but it’s worth taking a shot. She’s been working consistently and her last work was good. She hasn’t run in a while, so I wanted to make sure she was ready.”

Sarah Sis completed her major work with a five-furlong breeze in :59.40 over the Arlington Polytrack Thursday morning.