Already with success at Saratoga, the former assistant to Doug O’Neill brings a select group of horses about two months before the meet begins.
Some trainers look forward to the middle or the end of April, depending on the weather, to bring their horses to the Oklahoma Training Track as way of preparing for the Saratoga Race Course meet while racing them at Belmont Park.
In the mix of horses from Chad Brown, Todd Pletcher, Christophe Clement, Bill Mott, Kenny McPeek, Jorge Abreu, and Jeremiah Englehart who are breezing or galloping over the Oklahoma Training Track, there is another trainer who is looking to follow this trend that has proven to be successful: Jack Sisterson.
About a week after the Kentucky Derby, Sisterson brought his stable and team from Keeneland to Barn 84 near the Oklahoma Track to get his horses acclimated to the area.
“It’s nice to be back here. It’s a nice barn,” said Sisterson, who was once a hotwalker for Pletcher at Churchill Downs. “If you ship in a week before a race, you have to give them adequate time to adjust and settle. Over the two months before the meet starts, the horses have settled quickly and continue to forward in the right direction and compete for me.”
Over the last five years, Sisterson has solidified himself at Saratoga and on the New York Racing Association circuit. This includes two upsets in Grade 1 races at Saratoga for Calumet Farm: Lexitonian in the 2022 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap and Vexatious in the 2020 Personal Ensign Stakes. He also won the Man o’ War Stakes with Channel Cat in 2022 and Cigar Mile Handicap with True Timber in 2020.
This year, Sisterson has seen the Winner’s Circle over 20 percent of the time from nearly 50 runners, including Malleymoo who won the Penn Oaks last month at Penn National. On that same day, British-bred Behind Enemy Lines came up three-quarters of a length short to multiple graded stakes winner Major Dude in the Penn Mile.
Sisterson knows that it’s not an easy task to compete against the top-level horses and trainers at Saratoga and the New York circuit, but he’s grateful for the opportunities.
“It’s humbling to complete at a level like Saratoga and the New York circuit,” he said. “It’s so difficult to have a horse to compete at this level. I have to thank the owners for supporting me to send those type of horses to compete here.”
He also attributes his success to his staff – and the horses are aware of it, too.
“I have a great staff,” he said. “They are a small group of guys who are part of a team environment. We say ‘good morning’ and chat with each other. The horses sense that. They seem to gravitate to the front of the stalls and bright-eyed. They are happy and we have seen good results.”
Prior to becoming a private trainer for Calumet Farm in 2018 and recently taking other clients, Sisterson gained valuable experience by working with horses throughout the East Coast as an assistant for California-based trainer Doug O’Neill.
Sisterson had a unique starting experience with O’Neill when I’ll Have Another won his career debut in July 2011 at Hollywood Park. Then the following year, the horse continued an impressive streak of victories in the Santa Anita Derby, the Kentucky Derby, and the Preakness before it was abruptly due to a tendon injury in the left front leg that forced him out of the Belmont a day before the race.
Four years later, Sisterson was part of Nyquist’s undefeated streak that included the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, the Florida Derby, and the Kentucky Derby. From there, Sisterson helped set up O’Neill’s small stable of horses at Saratoga, which included stakes winners Irap, Mopotism, Pavel, and Cause We Are Loyal.
Toward the end of the Saratoga meet that year, Sisterson just moved to Keeneland to prepare for the meet, which meant he didn’t saddle Ralis to win the 2015 Hopeful Stakes. However, he did get a chance to see another 2-year-old win a Grade 1 stakes that fall: Gomo taking the Darley Alcibiades.
“A lot of times, I was traveling back and forth between the East Coast and West Coast,” Sisterson said. “I enjoyed traveling. I didn’t have any commitments. It was really enjoyable traveling with good horses.”
“I also learned how to treat the horses and people well,” he added. “You are only good as the horses and the staff. You have to treat your staff with a lot of respect. In return, they will give that back to you.”
Going into the Saratoga meet, Sisterson is hoping that at least one of his select group of 21 horses will give something back to him as well. Despite prior success at Saratoga, he still knows the meet can be a daunting task.
So far, besides Mallymoo and Behind Enemy Lines, he has other horses at Saratoga who have already won a race this year: Baby Billy, Detroit City, and Cartographer. While Behind Enemy Lines is considering the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame Stakes on Aug. 4, Sisterson indicated that he will leave his options open for Mallymoo. As for the remaining horses, including his two-year-olds, Sisterson knows he has to strategize.
“I guess you have to be selective with the horses to bring to Saratoga. It’s not easy,” he said. “It’s all about putting them in the right spots and places. They have greatly settled here. We’ll have to see how they train and where they fit in the condition book.”
The Saratoga meet starts July 13 for the four-day weekend and closes on Sept. 4 as part of the Labor Day Weekend. Along with by the 154th edition of the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers for 3-year-olds on Aug. 26, older horses will be competing in the 95th the Grade 1, $1 million Whitney on Aug. 5.
