Tag: Clairiere

Background Check: Personal Ensign

In this continuing series, we examine the past winners of significant filly/mare races by the lasting influence they've had on the breed. Up today is Saratoga's GI Personal Ensign S., renamed in 1998 to honor the undefeated Hall of Fame Phipps mare.

Originally known as the Firenze H. and then the John A. Morris H., the Personal Ensign dates to 1948. While members of the Phipps family have won six editions of the race which now holds one of the greatest names associated with the stable, Personal Ensign never actually ran in the contest.

In 1987, when the great mare was three, she had not yet returned to the races from a broken pastern bone in her left rear leg sustained as a juvenile. That year's race was run on Aug. 30; Personal Ensign would not come back until a week later in a Belmont allowance, her first start in nearly 11 months. The race would also miss the champion's dance card in 1988, but for a very different reason. She was fresh off a win over males in the GI Whitney S. just three weeks prior.

The transcendent mare's champion granddaughter, Storm Flag Flying (Storm Cat), did win the Personal Ensign S. in 2004. Like her legendary granddam, she was a Phipps homebred raised at Claiborne Farm and trained by Shug McGaughey.

Not only was Personal Ensign an unblemished champion on the racetrack, she also was named Broodmare of the Year in 1996. She produced one champion, three Grade I winners, and a dynasty through her daughters that is still churning out major winners today, including 2023's GISW Arabian Lion (Justify), who is set to run in Saturday's GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial S., and GSW Major Dude (Bolt d'Oro).

Following are highlights of some of the most important Personal Ensign winners by what impact they've had on the sport through their sons and daughters.

Cavorting (2012, Bernardini–Promenade Girl, by Carson City), bred by Swettenham Stud: A mare this young with two stakes winners to her name wouldn't normally make a list of matriarchs, but one of her foals is Clairiere (Curlin), a four-time GISW and 5-2 morning-line second choice in this year's Personal Ensign.

Heavenly Prize (1991, Seeking the Gold–Oh What a Dance, by Nijinsky II), bred by Ogden Phipps: This Phipps homebred and Hall of Famer produced MGISW Good Reward (Storm Cat), as well as GSW and good sire Pure Prize (Storm Cat). Her descendants include GISW Persistently (Smoke Glacken), a 2010 Personal Ensign winner for Phipps Stable, as well as more recent GISWs Instilled Regard (Arch) and Queen Goddess (Empire Maker).

Number (1979, Nijinsky II–Special, by Forli {Arg}), bred by Claiborne Farm: Japanese champion and MG1SW Gold Dream (Jpn) (Gold Allure {Jpn}), Breeders' Cup and GI Met Mile winner Corinthian (Pulpit), French G1 winner and Japanese sire Jade Robbery (Mr. Prospector), and a 'number' of other graded performers trace to this incredibly well-bred mare from one of the most 'special' families in the stud book.

Relaxing (1976, Buckpasser–Marking Time, by To Market), bred by Ogden Phipps: How fitting that this mare's greatest son would be bred to Personal Ensign, resulting in that mare's greatest daughter, My Flag. This 1989 Broodmare of the Year produced champion and Classic winner Easy Goer (Alydar), as well as GI winners Cadillacing (Alydar) and Easy Now (Danzig). Her descendants include GISW Strolling Along (Danzig), MGSW Cat Cay (Pleasant Colony), and MGSW & MGISP Abaco (Giant's Causeway).

1980 winner Relaxing's son Easy Goer was the sire of Breeders' Cup winner My Flag (outside), a filly out of Personal Ensign who would produce 2004 Personal Ensign winner Storm Flag Flying | Horsephotos

Sugar Plum Time (1972, Bold Ruler–Plum Cake, by Ponder), bred by Calumet Farm: A number of big winners trace to this mare, who was the first Phipps mare to win the then-Firenze, although she wasn't a homebred. Among her descendants are GISWs Grand Slam (Gone West), Christmas Kid (Lemon Drop Kid), and Kudos (Kris S.); MGSW Christmas Gift (Green Desert); and MSW & MGISP Bright Candles (El Gran Senor).

Kittiwake (1968, Sea Bird {Fr}–Ole Liz, by Double Jay), bred by Martin Andersen: This bay Florida-bred produced French G1SW Kitwood (Nureyev), six-time GISW Miss Oceana (Alydar), and MGSW & GISP Larida (Northern Dancer). Among the top horses tracing to her are European champion and MG1SW Dawn Approach (Ire) (New Approach {Ire}), GISW Aruna (Mr. Greeley), and English G1SW Magic of Life (Seattle Slew).

Obeah (1965, Cyane–Book of Verse, by One Count), bred by Bertram N. Linder: There may not be a big placeholder for this mare in the breeding annals as her two best foals to make it to the breeding shed–MGSW/MGISP Dance Spell (Northern Dancer) and GSW/GISP Discorama (Northern Dancer)–weren't able to leave a significant mark. Regardless, this mare will forever command a special place in racing due to her beloved champion daughter Go for Wand (Deputy Minister), who was lost too soon.

Straight Deal (1962, Hail to Reason–No Fiddling, by King Cole), bred by Bieber-Jacobs Stable: Desiree (Raise a Native) was the sole Grade I winner produced by this champion, whose multi-year racing campaigns meant she didn't have her first foal until age 10. However, her daughters certainly gave her an assist, with descendants including MGISW Adored (Seattle Slew); Breeders' Cup winner Dangerous Midge (Lion Heart); GISWs Qualify (Danzig), Scorpion (Seattle Slew), and Alwajeeha (Dixieland Band); MGSW and good sire Belong to Me (Danzig); and popular MGSW and GI Kentucky Derby runner-up Eight Belles (Unbridled's Song).

Blue Banner (1952, War Admiral–Risque Blue, by Blue Larkspur), bred by Mrs. John D. Hertz: This lovely bay produced a Broodmare of the Year in Key Bridge (Princequillo {GB}), who in turn produced Horse of the Year Fort Marcy (Amerigo {GB}), champion and influential sire Key to the Mint (Graustark), additional GISW Key to Content (Forli {Arg}), and GSW Key to the Kingdom (Bold Ruler). Others tracing to the then-Firenze winner include European champion and MG1SW Silver Patriarch (Ire) (Saddlers' Hall {Ire}), English highweight and G1SW Papineau (GB) (Singspiel {Ire}), and Brazilian champion Mensageiro Alado (Brz) (Ghadeer {Fr}).

Rare Treat (1952, Stymie–Rare Perfume, by Eight Thirty), bred by Erdenheim Farms Co: Among her descendants are European champion and G1 Epsom Derby winner Golden Fleece (Nijinsky II); U.S. champion What a Treat (Tudor Minstrel {Ire}); French G1SWs Mandaean (GB) (Manduro {Ger}) and Wavering (Ire) (Refuse To Bend {Ire}); U.S. GISWs Victory Speech (Deputy Minister) and Ida Delta (Graustark); and European MGSW Be My Guest (Northern Dancer), England's leading sire in 1982.

Parlo (1951, Heliopolis {GB}–Fairy Palace, by Pilate), bred by William duPont, Jr.: Horse of the Year Arts and Letters (Ribot {GB}), champion Silverbulletday (Silver Deputy), MGISW Waquoit (Relaunch), and Chilean champion All Glory (Honour and Glory) are among the top horses that trace to this diminutive chestnut, who also produced Broodmare of the Year All Beautiful (Battlefield).

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Dependable Nest Seeks Shuvee-Personal Ensign Spa Double

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – By his measured standard, Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher–rarely one to over-hype his horses– practically gushes when he talks about Nest (Curlin).

“She's just pure class in everything she does,” Pletcher said. “If they were all like her, it'd be a much easier game than it actually is.”

Co-owner Mike Repole, an enthusiastic promoter of his horses, talks about the 4-year-old in almost reverential terms.

“I've been blessed to have so many special, great horses, but she has a brilliance about her,” Repole said. “The last time I was blessed to have a horse like that was Uncle Mo. You think she's moving really slow. And you look at her times, and she just does it so easy. Effortlessly. Smooth. Composed. She's just a very special filly.”

Beloved by her connections and thoroughly respected by the competition, Nest returns to action Friday in the GI Personal Ensign S. Already the winner of three graded stakes at Saratoga Race Course, Nest will try to become the first runner to complete the GII Shuvee-Personal Ensign double since the Shuvee was added to the Saratoga stakes schedule in 2013. Eight previous Shuvee winners fell short.

In the Personal Ensign, named for the Ogden Phipps's undefeated champion, Nest will face a small, sterling field of graded stakes winners, Clairiere (Curlin), Secret Oath (Arrogate) Idiomatic (Curlin), and Sixtythreecaliber (Gun Runner), and Malloy (Outwork).

Nest has won eight of 12 starts and earned $2,083,050 for Repole, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Michael House. The only time she has finished off the board was in last year's GI Breeders' Cup Distaff when she was fourth, beaten 3 1/4 lengths as the favorite. That blemish did not bother Eclipse Award voters. She was the landslide winner of the 3-year-old filly title with 97% of the ballots cast.

This year, Nest was sick for a while in the spring, which delayed her return to the races. In the July 23 Shuvee, her first start since the Breeders' Cup, she dealt with the challenge presented by the gifted Clairiere and scooted away early in the stretch to win by 2 1/4 lengths.

“She has a rare ability to quicken at the end of the dirt race,” Pletcher said. “You don't see a lot of horses show that display and turn of foot at the top of the stretch like we've seen her do. She's just a very, very special filly.”

With her convincing victory under Irad Ortiz, Jr., Nest answered any questions about whether it would take any time to return to top form.

“She's got this cruise control that's a high-speed cruise control,” Repole said. “When Irad asked her to go around that far turn, she just opens up five lengths in a split second.”

Nest was purchased for $350,000 at the 2020 Keeneland September Sale and joined the Pletcher stable the following year.

“She's been a star since Day 1,” Pletcher said. “She broke her maiden going a mile and a sixteenth first time out. Was able to win the (GII) Demoiselle as a 2-year-old. Had a spectacular season as a 3-year-old. I think her (GI) Coaching Club American Oaks and (GI) Alabama wins were two of the most impressive races we saw at Saratoga last year. That earned her a championship and now she's come back training even better at four.”

Nest opened her 3-year-old season Feb. 12 with a six-length victory in the Suncoast S. at Tampa Bay Downs and picked up her first Grade I victory with an 8 1/4-length triumph in the GI Ashland S. Apr. 8 at Keeneland. She was sent off as the favorite in the GI Kentucky Oaks and ended up second, beaten two lengths by Secret Oath. Five weeks later, Pletcher tried her against males in the GI Belmont S. She delivered a big performance at 1 1/2 miles and finished second, three lengths behind stablemate Mo Donegal. Her grit and resilience have become a trademark.

“Physically, she's done remarkably well,” Pletcher said. “I said that last year after she was second in the Belmont that I couldn't think of a horse that we'd run in the Belmont that came out of the race as well as she did and actually gained weight after the race. She's done that again, this year after the Shuvee. Your first concern would be that that might be a hard race on her off the long layoff. She just thrived on it and has done great since then.”

On the track and around the barn, Nest has an alert, but calm confident presence about her.

“Queen Nest,” Repole said. “She was always mature, but she came back and she knows everything she's doing and she's really special right now.”

After Nest breezed a half-mile on the main track Saturday in :48.75, Pletcher described it was as good as a horse can work.

“She's very easy to train. She's very relaxed in her gallops,” Pletcher said. “Everything comes very easily to her. If you want her to work slow, she'll do that. If you want to work fast, she can do that. She's a trainer's dream, really. She does whatever you ask her to do.”

Due to the late start of her season, Pletcher said he would entertain another race before heading to California for the Nov. 4 Breeders' Cup Distaff at Santa Anita. The GI Spinster S. at Keeneland Oct. 8 is a popular steppingstone to the Distaff.

Pletcher acknowledged the quality of the Personal Ensign field, noting that it included the major players in the division. It is another showdown at the Spa with title implications and he will saddle the filly likely to go off as the favorite.

“I never take anything for granted,” he said, “but the way she's training, I would expect another big effort from her.”

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After Skipping Shuvee, Secret Oath Returns In Personal Ensign

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY — Never shy about being a promoter, Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas did not have to use his best pitch as he looked ahead to the GI Personal Ensign S. on Aug. 25 where he will saddle Secret Oath (Arrogate).

Always an important race that draws the top older dirt fillies and mares, the $500,000 Personal Ensign will once again have a strong lineup on Friday. Champion Nest (Curlin) and Clairiere (Curlin), who ran 1-2 in the GII Shuvee S. on July 23 are the obvious headliners. In addition to Secret Oath, the field could include Juddmonte's GII Delaware H. winner Idiomatic (Curlin). Three-time graded stakes winner Search Results (Flatter), the runner-up last year by a half-length to champion Malathaat (Curlin), was also nominated.

“This will be a Breeders' Cup prep.  That's what this is,” Lukas said. “This may be the best race of the year up here.”

The field will be without one standout, Rigney Racing's Played Hard (Into Mischief). Trainer Phillip Bauer said Friday that she will skip the Personal Ensign. The GI La Troienne S. winner spiked a fever in July that caused her to miss the Shuvee, had a breeze interrupted when a rider on another horse was unseated and is not quite ready to return to top-caliber competition.

Lukas, 87, is anxious to run Secret Oath in the Personal Ensign. She opened her 4-year-old season with three strong races. She beat Clairiere by 2 3/4 lengths in the GII Azeri S., but Clairiere reversed the finish by a neck in the GI Apple Blossom H. Played Hard edged Secret Oath by a neck in the La Troienne.

In her fourth outing of the season, Secret Oath was a well-beaten fifth of six behind Clairiere and Search Results in the GI Ogden Phipps S. on June 10 at Belmont Park. Lukas said the filly's owners, Stacy and Robert Mitchell, wanted to pass on the Shuvee and have her ready for the Personal Ensign, the GI Juddmonte Spinster S. on Oct. 8 at Keeneland and the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff at Santa Anita on Nov. 4.

Secret Oath, winner of the 2022 GI Kentucky Oaks, has been in Saratoga with Lukas throughout the meet and has breezed four times on the Oklahoma training track.

“She's doing everything right and working lights out,” he said. “But there's nothing like racing to keep them sharp.”

During the 76 days between starts, Lukas has made a point of giving her aggressive works. She turned in a bullet five furlongs in :59 flat (1/14) on Aug. 12 and will work again early Sunday morning. He was she was good, but laid back, so he is trying to tune her up.

“She has trained and put on weight and gotten a lot more relaxed mentally,” he said. “That kind of happens when you give them those long breaks. She's had an eight-week break, maybe even more, but she's really doing everything right. I'm hoping that she'll wake up.”

To that end, Lukas worked her five furlongs in 1:00.45 on Aug. 3, sent her out for a circuit of the track doing a two-minute lick on Aug. 7 and followed up with the bullet breeze. He will continue with that approach Sunday morning.

“I will let her work,” Lukas said. “They say, 'I just want a maintenance work.' I'll go :59, :58. That will be fine with me. I want a sharp one.”

Secret Oath was scheduled to be sold at auction last November, but Lukas encouraged the Mitchells to withdraw her and keep her in training this year. He argued that she could earn quite a lot of purse money and probably enhance her value. She has earned $576,350 this year, pushing her career total to $2,344,767 from 17 starts.

At Saratoga last summer, Nest easily handled Secret Oath in the GI Coaching Club American Oaks and the GI Alabama S., which sent her to the 3-year-old filly Eclipse Award. Lukas said that Secret Oath has improved in the last 12 months.

“She's stronger and bigger and she should run better,” he said. “Let me put it this way, I think this race will be good for her, really good, but the next one will be a lot better. I really feel like once she gets this one under her belt, she will be really tough in the Spinster.”

Bauer said he had to scuttle the plan to run Played Hard in the Shuvee and the Personal Ensign.

“We decided after a five-eighths drill the week before that we had really lost too much fitness with the time that she got sick,” he said. “We went back and forth on it, but basically landed on, if we're going to take on this type we better not have any reservations about it. We're just going to turn the page to the [Sept. 16 GIII] Locust Grove, which she won last year at Churchill. She's probably a work away from the Personal Ensign, which we may have achieved if the first work off the time off would have gone to plan. Everything kind of blew up on us for both of the races up here.”

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Nest Targets Personal Ensign For Next Start

Last year's champion 3-year-old filly Nest (Curlin) will make her next start in the GI Personal Ensign S. at Saratoga Aug. 25. Part-owner Mike Repole of Repole Stables announced the news via social media Friday morning. Not seen since an off-the-board finish as the favorite in last Fall's GI Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff, Nest made a triumphant return to the races with a 2 1/4-length win over MGISW Clairiere (Curlin) in last Sunday's GII Shuvee S.

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