Flower Bowl Preview: Streaking Civil Union Faces Familiar Foes

ELMONT, NY – Allen Stable homebred Civil Union streaks back into Belmont Park looking to extend her 3-race win streak while facing a trio of familiar foes in Saturday’s $250,000 Flower Bowl Stakes (G1).

The winner of the Flower Bowl will receive an automatic position in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Maker’s Mark Filly & Mare Turf (G1) this fall at Keeneland. Pre-entry and entry fees will be paid and a nominator award of $10,000 will be given to the nominating person. Also, all Breeders’ Cup starters based outside of the state of Kentucky will receive a travel allowance of $10,000 if based in North America and $40,000 if based Internationally.

The Flower Bowl is a 1 1/4-mile inner turf route restricted to fillies and mares ages 3 and up. The 2020 edition attracted 7 older females.

Let’s look at the full field:

#1 Cambier Parc – The first of 3 entries trying to give trainer Chad Brown his record seventh title in this race, Cambier Parc ended her 2019 season winning the Del Mar Oaks (G1) and the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes (G1) before taking the next 11 months off. She finished second in the Canadian Stakes (G2) last time out while making her long-awaited return.

#2 My Sister Nat – The second Brown runner possesses the field’s best pedigree; Sistercharlie, her older half-sister, won the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf as well as the 2019 Flower Bowl, and her younger half-brother Sottsass took last Sunday’s Arc de Triomphe (G1). While not as decorated as her siblings, she won the Waya Stakes (G3) and has a 13-3-5-3 record.

#3 Civil Union – Trainer Shug McGaughey has this daughter of top American turf sire War Front looking for her fourth straight score. Returning from 5 months off, she necked allowance rivals over this course and distance in June before taking the River Memories Stakes and the Glens Falls Stakes (G2). McGaughey and Allen Stable previously won this race in 2017 with War Flag.

#4 La Signare – She stretches back out to this distance for the first time since she finished last of 10 in the 2018 Belmont Oaks (G1), contested over this same course. Earlier this year, she won the Sand Springs Stakes and missed taking the Mint Julep Stakes (G3) by a neck 1 start later, and her recent string of mid-90s Beyer Speed Figures match up well with this group.

#5 Beau Belle – She nearly took the field gate to wire in the Glens Falls last time out before ultimately settling for third, beaten 1 length. The result was her third straight time finishing behind either/both Civil Union and My Sister Nat, so she’ll need a bit of racing luck and an improved effort if she hopes to turn the tables on those rivals here.

#6 Nay Lady Nay – The third Brown representative has won 2 straight and 4 of her last 5, including a 5 1/2-length dominating effort in the All Along Stakes at Laurel Park last time out. She’s proven that she can win on course conditions that range from yielding to firm, and Brown has won 25% of the past 320 starts when Irad Ortiz Jr. hops aboard for this barn.

#7 Lovely Lucky – She won 2 straight earlier this summer to earn a shot in the Glens Falls, where she pressured the early pace of fellow Tom Albertrani trainee Beau Belle, then flattened out in the stretch and finished fourth. Jose Lezcano, aboard for the first time that day, will be back in the irons looking to improve upon his 18% success rate when riding for Albertrani.

The Flower Bowl serves as race 8 and is one of 5 stakes on the Saturday card at Belmont Park, 4 of which are Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series “Win and You’re In” events. Belmont Park also hosts the final American-based qualifier for the World Championships on Sunday, the Futurity Stakes (G3) for the Juvenile Turf Sprint.

The Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series is presented by America’s Best Racing.