Tag: personal ensign

Mating Plans, Presented By Spendthrift: Chip Montgomery And Haymarket Farm

The TDN's popular annual series 'Mating Plans, presented by Spendthrift,' continues today in a conversation with Haymarket Farm's Chip Montgomery.

“I've always been enamored with the deep pedigrees of the stalwarts of the industry and have gravitated recently to granddaughters, etc. of Personal Ensign, My Flag and Storm Flag Flying,” said Montgomery. “About once a quarter, I will put on the video of the 1988 Breeders' Cup Distaff to hear Tom Durkin's call of Personal Ensign's nose win against Winning Colors to retire undefeated.   It's an honor to own several fillies and mares with this royal blood in their veins, and makes me proud to be a Kentuckian!”

BLESSING THE FLAG, 6, (Distorted Humor–Fly the Flag, by Giant's Causeway). To be bred to Medaglia d'Oro.

We bought her as a yearling and made $130,000 but couldn't win a race!  As a maiden, we will breed her to Medaglia d'Oro as this cross works very well, not only in the population in general, but also within her family (Vigilantes Way and Major Dude, among others).

FLY THE FLAG, 17, (Giant's Causeway–My Flag, by Easy Goer). To be bred to Upstart or Annapolis.

Honoring our investment in stallion shares here as she's in foal to Upstart (bred like Zandon and Trademark) and will likely go back to Upstart or possibly Annapolis.

STAND FOR THE FLAG, 8, (Super Saver–Raise the Flag, by Awesome Again). To be bred to Proxy.

A winner of $290,000, we bought her as a broodmare prospect and she is in foal to Olympiad and going to Proxy. Both good crosses and beautiful animals!

WYCHWOOD, 8, (Tale of the Cat–Queens Wood, by Tiznow). To be bred to Street Sense.

A daughter of a GI-producing mare, she has already produced our homebred stakes winner Cats inthe Timber (Honor Code) as her first foal. Barren this year, she will be bred to Street Sense, needing that size and two-turn power.

QUEENS WOOD, 16, (Tiznow–Salon Prive, by Private Account). To be bred to Forte.

The queen herself, currently in foal to Jackie's Warrior, will be bred to Forte, a proper cross and a powerful two-turn hopeful.

CTIMENE, 15, (Consolidator–Persimmon Hill, by Conquistador Cielo). To be bred to Mitole.

A half-sister to GI producer Once Around, she had a breakthrough stakes winner this past year with Katonah (Klimt) and is being bred to Mitole. A big, course mare, she will benefit from Mitole's sprinter physique.

GOOD TOHAVE AROUND, 4, (Good Samaritan–Ctimene, by Consolidator). To be bred to Yaupon.

A more elegant rendition of her mother, as a maiden, will be bred to the magnificent looking Yaupon.

Interested in sharing your own mating plans? Email garyking@thetdn.com.

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Secret Oath Retired; Will Sell At Fasig-Tipton November

Secret Oath (Arrogate–Absinthe Minded, by Quiet American), whose accomplishments include a win in the 2022 GI Kentucky Oaks, has been retired due to a minor problem with her right front ankle, reports trainer Wayne Lukas.

She will sell at the Fasig-Tipton November sale.

The story was first reported by Ron Flatter of Horse Racing Nation.

Owned by Rob and Stacy Mitchell, Secret Oath came down with the injury after working five furlongs in :58.60 on Sept. 28 at Churchill Downs. Lukas said that the injury caused him to keep her out of Sunday's GI Spinster S. at Keeneland and with her missing that race he did not think she could make the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff.

“She's fine and she's sound,” he said. “But she was not going to make the Spinster. Rather than try to get her back together we decided to just go ahead and sell her.”

Secret Oath, a homebred, flourished as a 3-year-old. After she won the GIII Honeybee S., Lukas ran her against males in the GI Arkansas Derby, where she finished third. The Oaks was up next and she won that race by two lengths over eventual Eclipse Award winner Nest (Curlin).

“There are about 10,000 female horses born every year and she's the only one among them who won the Oaks,” Lukas said. “Those are the one-of-a-kind accomplishments every trainer strives for.”

After the Oaks, Secret Oath lost five straight but rebounded with a decisive win in the GII Azeri S. to kick off this year's campaign. She ran four more times, a stretch that included second-place finishes in the GI Apple Blossom H., the GI La Troienne S. and the GI Personal Ensign S.

“She was a picture of consistency,” Lukas said. “She showed up every time. Whenever I ran her she was right there. Secret Oath was good every time we started her. She always hit the board.”

A year ago, the Mitchells announced that Secret Oath would be sold in the Fasig-Tipton November sale, but they changed their minds and withdrew her so that they could race her one more year.

“She's going to bring some serious money,” Lukas said. “They still own the mother and a half-sister to Secret Oath. They are a small breeding operation so she has been a real blessing for them.”

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The ‘Other’ Curlin, Idiomatic, Plunders the Personal Ensign

With the 76th renewal of Friday's GI Personal Ensign S. at Saratoga billed as a clash between division heavyweights Nest (Curlin) and Clairiere (Curlin), it was the other daughter in the field by Hill 'n' Dale's super sire Curlin who would prevail in a pillar-to-post mild upset. IDIOMATIC (f, 4, Curlin–Lockdown, by First Defence), a Juddmonte homebred trained by Brad Cox and ridden by Florent Geroux, threw her name into the figurative hat, winning her third consecutive graded race and first Grade I. Last year's GI Kentucky Oaks winner Secret Oath (Arrogate) outbattled Nest for second, while Clairiere never got involved over the sloppy track and finished fifth.

Idiomatic broke from the rail and quickly skipped to the lead, ears pricked while under a hold as 45-1 longshot and Midwest shipper Malloy (Outwork) tracked her through a :24.53 first quarter and a :48.84 half. Nest was third early while Secret Oath followed and the pair of Sixtythreecaliber (Gun Runner), a July 19 Spa allowance winner, and Clairiere trailed. The tempo quickened with a half-mile to go; Idiomatic still traveled easily. Approaching the eighth pole, Geroux started riding as Nest attacked from Idiomatic's outside and Secret Oath countered from the inside. Despite drifting late, Idiomatic put both away to win by a healthy four-length margin as runner-up Secret Oath outpunched Nest by just a neck. Final time for the nine furlongs was 1:49.12.

Eclipse champion Nest suffered her first defeat at the Spa, while four-time GISW Clairiere was off the board for the first time since an uncharacteristic poor effort in last year's Personal Ensign.

“Based off the paper, I felt pretty confident [my filly] could establish a pretty solid lead,” said Cox. “I liked her [on a wet track], just the way she's made, she's big but she's not real heavy. I thought she could bounce through it, I really did.”

Cox continued when asked about his thoughts on defeating Nest and Clairiere: “It's huge. They're champions. They've accomplished so much and they're still in good form. I'm very proud of her to win by a few lengths there. Big race and I'm very proud of her.”

Fresh off back-to-back wins in the July 8 GII Delaware H., despite an ugly stumble at the break, and the June 3 GIII Shawnee S. with corresponding dual triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures, Idiomatic has done her best running when loose on the lead. She's taken an interesting path to this level, debuting with a win in April of her sophomore year at Turfway Park. Five of her first six starts–sandwiched around a seven-month, mid-year break–were on the all-weather surface at Turfway. After posting three consecutive wins there to kick off her 4-year-old campaign, which included a first stakes try in the Latonia S. Mar. 25, Cox shipped her to Belmont, where she made her graded debut May 6 with a distant second behind Pass the Champagne (Flatter) in the GII Ruffian S. Idiomatic hasn't lost since.

“I want to congratulate Juddmonte, Prince Khalid, and his family for keeping the legacy going,” said Cox. “They have a tremendous operation worldwide and this is a huge update for the farm and their operation. This filly is a homebred, so it means a lot.

“The week before I ran her in the Ruffian, I told [Juddmonte's] Garrett [O'Rourke] this filly will run on the dirt. It was an unbelievable breeze. She was second that day to Pass the Champagne, but her works on the dirt have been great all spring and into the summer. She gave us a lot of confidence this spring and summer. I've been confident in her for a while.”

 

Pedigree Notes:

Not too many significant racing weekends in recent memory don't involve a son or daughter of Curlin as a major player. It's impossible to overstate the chestnut's prowess as a sire of racehorses. The Hill 'n' Dale stallion is indisputably one of the best stallions of this generation and, with the Personal Ensign result, currently ranks second on the leading sire list behind only Into Mischief. Those two, along with Tapit, harken back to the days of Mr. Prospector, Danzig, and Seattle Slew, a trio who also interchangeably dominated just a few decades ago. Idiomatic is one of 54 graded winners and 96 black-type winners for Curlin, and his 21st at the Grade I level.

Idiomatic is a fourth-generation Juddmonte-bred and hails from the direct female line of Broodmare of the Year Best in Show (Traffic Judge), whose daughters have been brilliant producers and are responsible for a plethora of top horses over the last 50 or so years. One of those top horses was Juddmonte homebred, 'TDN Rising Star', and champion Close Hatches (First Defence), a full-sister to Idiomatic's stakes-winning and multiple Grade I-placed dam, Lockdown. Close Hatches is the dam of Tacitus (Tapit), whose big wins included the 2019 GII Wood Memorial S. and whose placings included the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Belmont S.

Broodmare sire First Defence, another Juddmonte homebred descending from the operation's wonderful Broodmare of the Year Toussuad (El Gran Senor), has 14 stakes winners out of his daughters. He now stands in Saudi Arabia.

Lockdown died in 2022 after producing just three foals. She has an unraced 3-year-old filly named Abditory (Medaglia d'Oro) and a yearling filly by Into Mischief.

Friday, Saratoga
PERSONAL ENSIGN S.-GI, $500,000, Saratoga, 8-25, 4yo/up, f/m, 1 1/8m, 1:49.12, sy.
1–IDIOMATIC, 120, f, 4, by Curlin
          1st Dam: Lockdown (SW & MGISP, $445,900), by First Defence
          2nd Dam: Rising Tornado, by Storm Cat
          3rd Dam: Silver Star (GB), by Zafonic
1ST GRADE I WIN. O-Juddmonte; B-Juddmonte Farms Inc (KY); T-Brad H. Cox; J-Florent Geroux. $275,000. Lifetime Record: 10-7-1-2, $1,049,490. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree or free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Secret Oath, 122, f, 4, by Arrogate
          1st Dam: Absinthe Minded (MSW & MGISP, $607,747), by Quiet American
          2nd Dam: Rockford Peach, by Great Above
          3rd Dam: Strawberry Skyline, by Hatchet Man
O-Briland Farm; B-Briland Farm, Robert & Stacy Mitchell (KY); T-D. Wayne Lukas. $100,000.
3–Nest, 124, f, 4, by Curlin
          1st Dam: Marion Ravenwood (SW, $112,598), by A.P. Indy
          2nd Dam: Andujar, by Quiet American
          3rd Dam: Nureyev's Best, by Nureyev
($350,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Repole Stable, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Michael House; B-Ashview Farm & Colts Neck Stables (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher. $60,000.
Margins: 4, NK, 12. Odds: 4.00, 7.20, 0.75.
Also Ran: Malloy, Clairiere, Sixtythreecaliber.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

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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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