Civil Union blooms for Shug and Allen in Flower Bowl

Flower Bowl Stakes (Grade 1)

CIVIL Union, a five-year-old War Front mare, earned a Breeders’ Cup place when she held off My Sister Nat to win the Grade 1 Flower Bowl Stakes.

A homebred for Joseph Allen, Civil Union is trained by Shug McGaughey who also won the race with the Allen-owned War Flag. Allen also raced the mare’s sire.

Under Joel Rosario, Civil Union was settled in sixth early, moved out at the head of the stretch, and had a clear path to the winning post. She held on well as Sottsass and Sistercharlie’s half-sister My Sister Nat closed down the centre of the course to just fail by a head a time of in 2m 1.28secs.

Chad Brown’s favourite, Cambier Parc, had pressed the pace and had to settle for fourth.

“I let her settle a bit because we were going a mile and a quarter, and tried to wait to the last part before I made my move turning for home, went inside a little bit and she handled everything well and then came out turning for home,” Rosario said.

McGaughey will wait to see how she recovers before committing her to the Breeders’ Cup.

“It was probably a hard race on her, but she’s a big and strong mare. I’ll see what Mr. Allen wants to do. If she was doing as well as she’s done all summer, it’s probably worth giving a whirl,” he said after the race.

The victory was the fourth in a row for Civil Union who McGaughey began training this winter after she had raced for Chad Brown.

“When she started off this winter in Florida, I never imagined that she would be a Grade 1 winner,” McGaughey said. “She’s a nice mare to train and nice to be around.”

The other graded race on the card, the Grade 2 Sands Point Stakes for fillies over a mile, saw an impressive win for the Chad Brown-trained Tamahere, a daughter of the recently acquired Coolmore sire Wootton Bassett.