Well-Related Gun Runner Filly Dazzles at Delaware

This column highlights the performances of 2-year-old maidens who have made no more than five starts and who either sold for more than $500,000 at public auction, have siblings that are graded/group winners, or have dams that are graded/group winners. BloodHorse research shows maiden winners, in particular, who meet these criteria are more likely to go on to be graded stakes winners.

Delaware Park

Brett Brinkman and Dale Ladner hit the jackpot not once, but twice, with the progeny of the Louisiana-bred mare Sittin At the Bar. The daughter of Into Mischief , a multiple stakes winner in the Bayou State, produced the graded stakes-winning sprinters Cilla and Alva Starr in back-to-back years for the owner and trainer. 

Thirteen months following the tragic death of Alva Starr, who gave the partners their first grade 1 win in the 2024 Madison Stakes (G1), Sittin at the Bar's 2-year-old daughter Sina scampered to a five-length maiden victory Aug. 8 at Delaware Park. 

Unveiled at Churchill Downs in a June maiden special weight, the precocious Sina was jostled at the start but pushed her way to the front. Dueling for the lead through wickedly fast early fractions of :20.96 and :43.78, Sina opened an advantage down the lane only to be overtaken late by eventual Debutante Stakes victress Chopsticks. 

Losing nothing in defeat, Lautner allowed the daughter of Gun Runner  to replenish her tank at his Delaware home base before sending the bay into battle once more. With a race under her belt and the wind back in her sails as she took to the gate for her second outing, Sina would prove uncatchable this time.

Tearing away from the gates on an uncontested lead that widened with every pole, Sina's unharnessed speed was no match for her rivals. She crossed the wire geared down in a final time of 1:11.89 for six furlongs.

And just as her older half sisters did before her, Sina would take her maiden photo at Delaware.