Point of Honor | Horse Racing Free Tips

‘Better Than Ever,’ Midnight Bisou Chasing Back-To-Back Wins In Personal Ensign

Reigning Champion Older Dirt Female Midnight Bisou, crafting another Eclipse Award-worthy campaign, will seek a 14th graded stakes victory in the 71st running of Saturday's Grade 1, $500,000 Personal Ensign presented by NYRA Bets on Whitney Day at Saratoga Race Course.

Whitney Day will feature three Grade 1 events, led by the historic Grade 1, $750,000 Whitney at 1 1/8 miles with an automatic berth to the Breeders' Cup Classic on November 7 at Keeneland on the line. The card is bolstered by the Grade 1, Personal Ensign presented by NYRA Bets, a “Win and You're In” qualifier for the Breeders' Cup Distaff in November; and the Grade 1, $300,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial presented by Runhappy for 3-year-olds sprinting seven furlongs. The stakes-laden card also includes the Grade 2, $250,000 Bowling Green for 4-year-olds and up on the turf and the $200,000 Caress, a 5 ½-furlong turf sprint for older fillies and mares. The card will be broadcast on Saratoga Live beginning at 1 p.m. Eastern on FOX Sports and MSG Networks.

Midnight Bisou, a dark bay 5-year-old daughter of Midnight Lute, has put together a sensational record of 21-13-5-3 with purse earnings of $7,371,520. Trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, Midnight Bisou will attempt to be the first horse to score back-to-back Personal Ensign triumphs since John C. Oxley's champion Beautiful Pleasure did so in 1999-00.

“It would be awesome,” said Jeff Bloom, who owns Midnight Bisou in partnership with Madaket Stable and Allen Racing. “Anytime you run in those type of races, they're big regardless of what you've done in the past. She's training better than ever and we're ready for it.”

Midnight Bisou garnered a career-best 104 Beyer Speed Figure when taking last year's edition of the Personal Ensign in dramatic fashion by a nose over Elate following a tenuous stretch battle.

Midnight Bisou is a five-time Grade 1-winner with each score taking place at different tracks. During her 3-year-old campaign, Midnight Bisou won the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks while conditioned by west coast-based Bill Spawr before being transferred to Asmussen following a third in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks. Three starts later, she picked up a victory in the Grade 1 Cotillion at Parx Racing en route to a third in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Distaff.

At age four she came back bigger and stronger putting together an Eclipse Award-winning campaign which consisted of Grade 1 victories in the Apple Blossom at Oaklawn, Ogden Phipps at Belmont and last year's Personal Ensign.

This year, Midnight Bisou has sustained her winning form, displaying an inside-closing effort in the inaugural $20 million Saudi Cup in February and last out won the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis at Churchill Downs by 8 ¼ lengths.

Bloom said Midnight Bisou gives preference to certain main tracks, but noted that she has taken quite well to the new dirt surface at Saratoga.

“At the end of the day, I think she probably likes certain tracks more than others,” Bloom said. “She's a huge fan of Belmont, but she's run well over any surface and over any environment. Once you give her the chance to see what's going on around her, she's okay. I think with the changes they made at Saratoga this past season she's training even better over there. She has a great feel for the track, from what I've seen.”

Jockey Ricardo Santana, Jr. will be aboard Midnight Bisou for the first time from post 3.

Following a runner-up effort in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps at Belmont Park, Point of Honor will be going back to two turns for the Personal Ensign.

Owned by Aron Wellman's Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Stetson Racing, the 4-year-old chestnut Curlin filly added “graded stakes winner” to her consistent resume last May, taking the Grade 2 Black Eyed Susan at Pimlico. She then followed up with two Grade 1-placings at the Spa in the Coaching Club American Oaks and Alabama. She then received a freshening after her runner-up effort in the Alabama to Dunbar Road and has placed in all three of her starts this year. Prior to the Ogden Phipps, she finished third in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom on April 18 at Oaklawn Park.

Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano will attempt his fourth Personal Ensign win aboard Point of Honor, who will exit from post 6.

Calumet Farm's Vexatious, a 6-year-old Giant's Causeway mare trained by Jack Sisterson, posted a career-best 100 Beyer when second last out on July 11 in the Grade 2 Ruffian won by Monomoy Girl traveling a one-turn mile at Belmont Park.

Vexatious ran second in the Grade 3 Modesty on the Arlington Park turf last July in just her second start for Sisterson and followed up with a game second in the nine-furlong Summer Colony, defeated a neck to Blue Prize who exited that race to win the Grade 1 Spinster at Keeneland and the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Distaff at Santa Anita.

Bred in Kentucky by James C. Weigel and Giant's Causeway Syndicate, the versatile and well-bred Vexatious is out of Grade 1-winning millionaire Dream of Summer and is a full-sister to Grade 1-winner Creative Cause and a half-sister to multiple graded stakes-winner Destin.

Vexatious will stretch back out to nine furlongs for the Personal Ensign following her stellar effort at a one-turn mile in the Ruffian under Jose Lezcano.

“She ran such a good race in the one-turn mile. My concern going into the Ruffian was it was a new dimension for her cutting back to one turn,” said Sisterson. “That one-turn mile is an extended sprint and you don't get much of a breather chasing fast fractions.

“Jose Lezcano rode her perfectly and he told me she's such a hard-trying filly and gave it her all,” added Sisterson. “I think she'll stay whatever trip you put her over, it's just a matter of how fast she can stay the trip, but I do think the mile and an eighth will be better suited for her.”

Vexatious will emerge from post 4 under the returning Lezcano.

Last weekend, Paris Lights and Crystal Ball gave members of WinStar Stablemates Racing a major thrill when battling down the stretch to a one-two finish in the Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks. This weekend Abounding Joy will seek to keep their spirits high when breaking from post 1.

Trained by Rodolphe Brisset, Abounding Joy arrives at her graded stakes debut in the Personal Ensign off a 5 ½-length win in the Iowa Distaff on July 4 at Prairie Meadows.

The 5-year-old bay mare is by Quality Road, who sired 2018 Personal Ensign hero Abel Tasman, and is out of the graded stakes winning Jump Start broodmare Jump On In.

Abounding Joy will be ridden by jockey Jose Ortiz.

Abbondanza Racing, Mar DeDomenico and Medallion Racing's Motion Emotion will attempt to turn the table on Midnight Bisou after finishing second to the champion in the Fleur de Lis last out.

Trained by west coast-based conditioner Richard Baltas, the Take Charge Indy bay filly was second in three of her four starts this season and will seek her first victory since taking the Zia Park Oaks on November 27.

During her 3-year-old campaign, Motion Emotion was second in the Grade 3 Honeybee and Grade 3 Fantasy (both at Oaklawn Park) en route to a ninth-place finish to Serengeti Empress in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks.

Jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. will pilot Motion Emotion from post 2.

Rounding out the field is Lawrence P. Roman's Bossy Bride, who makes her graded stakes debut for trainer Rob Atras.

The daughter of Malibu Moon is a three-time winner from 15 starts and arrives at the Personal Ensign off a three-length starter allowance victory on July 10 at Belmont Park.

Jockey Junior Alvarado will pilot Bossy Bride form post 5.

The Personal Ensign is named in honor of Ogden Phipps' undefeated champion mare who won all 13 of her lifetime starts, including a triumph against colts in the 1988 Whitney. Perhaps her most memorable performance was a rallying victory in that year's Breeders' Cup Distaff over a sloppy main track Churchill Downs, where she unleashed a devastating turn of foot to defeat Kentucky Derby winner Winning Colors. Trained by Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey, Personal Ensign also enjoyed a successful career as a broodmare having produced 1995 Champion 2-Year-Old Filly My Flag (the dam of 2002 Champion 2-Year-Old Filly Storm Flag Flying, who won the 2004 Personal Ensign), as well as Grade 1-winners Miner's Mark and Traditionally.

The Personal Ensign is slated as Race 5 on Saturday's 12-race card, which offers a first post of 1:10 p.m. Eastern. Saratoga Live will present daily television coverage of the 40-day summer meet on FOX Sports and MSG Networks. For the complete Saratoga Live broadcast schedule, and additional programming information, visit https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule.

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This Side Up: Vekoma Points Weaver Towards Fresh Honors

In these contentious times, at least the cavaliers of the turf seem to clinging to suitably knightly ethics. Last weekend, Honor A.P. (Honor Code) and Code Of Honor (Noble Mission) made a righteous stand on either coast; and Saturday’s main event, the GI Ogden Phipps S., now adds Point Of Honor (Curlin) to this overflow of rectitude.

In her case, however, the duplication of honors would primarily encompass trainer George Weaver, whose success with Vekoma (Candy Ride {Arg}) in the Carter H. at Belmont last weekend was his first at Grade I level since Lighthouse Bay (Speightstown) in the 2013 Prioress S. (His only previous elite winner, moreover, had been Saratoga County {Valid Expectations} in the 2005 G1 Golden Shaheen in Dubai.) After ending a seven-year itch, then, a mere seven-day wait for fresh laurels would set an unmistakable seal on the steady consolidation of Weaver’s status since ending a diligent apprenticeship under D. Wayne Lukas and then Todd Pletcher, another former Lukas assistant, in 2002.

Weaver’s consistent Saratoga record speaks of a trainer who can accurately judge caliber, despite more limited ammunition than his mentors. And he has likewise excelled this spring, in a program rendered so much more competitive by its compression, saddling 19 winners from 69 starters prior to Friday.

Vekoma and Point Of Honor, moreover, both attest to a patience and discipline that come at a tougher premium in a smaller barn. Both were taken out of the front line after an exciting start to their sophomore campaigns last year, and are now rewarding the forbearance of their connections.

Vekoma, indeed, is fast becoming one of the most engaging talents in the land. His eccentric gait–hoisting his front leg around like a pitcher on the mound–captured many imaginations on his way to the GI Kentucky Derby last year, and has remained no impediment to two charismatic exhibitions since his return, notably in that 7 1/4-length romp for a 110 Beyer in the Belmont slop last weekend.

By this stage, surely, everyone has grasped that a May 22 foaling in itself presents no disadvantage. The three other May foals in the last Derby were the first three past the post, showing the benefits of better climate and pasture in infancy. One of those, of course, was Code Of Honor–foaled in the same Lane’s End barn within 24 hours of Vekoma. In this instance, however, Weaver is clear that Vekoma has filled out during his 11-month absence, saying that he is now “all man.”

I don’t know if Vekoma glimpsed Code Of Honor at Belmont last week, but it appears that they may now square up back there in the GI Met Mile. As it stands, Code Of Honor has contributed to his old paddock buddy’s only career defeats: they finished first and third, respectively, when Vekoma returned from a three-month break in the GII Fountain of Youth S.; and second and 12th (both promoted) when he derailed in the Derby. On the face of it, given the size of any foal crop, the odds were steeply against the pair treading on each other’s toes in this way. But that just shows why you strive for excellence in your program, and in your choices of stallions and farms.

Anyhow, the way Vekoma is thriving now must give heart to those whose porcelain sophomores are limping off the Classic trail this time round. So often the glister of the Triple Crown forces adolescent horses into an enterprise that ultimately proves, in maturity, not to have played to their best strengths. So while Vekoma did win the two-turn GII Blue Grass S. decisively, he is now beginning to shape like a one-turn monster.

Which he’s absolutely entitled to be: his pedigree, in contrast with his gait, will satisfy the most orthodox tastes. His dam Mona de Momma (Speightstown) was likewise a Grade I winner in the slop, out of a half-sister to Mr. Greeley (himself, of course, by Speightstown’s sire Gone West) as well as to the second dams of Street Sense (Street Cry {Ire}) and Paradise Woods (Union Rags); while their dam, in turn, is out of the European dasher Lianga (Dancer’s Image), third dam of the remarkable stallion Danehill Dancer (Ire) (Danehill). That’s some page for $135,000.

Point Of Honor will have cost rather more, as a $825,000 RNA subsequently acquired privately by Donato Lanni for John Connelly of Stetson Racing. (Eclipse Thoroughbreds came aboard after her debut.) She, too, is regrouping extremely well after her layoff. Arguably it was no bad thing to be squeezed leaving the gate in the GI Apple Blossom H., as she was at least sheltered from the blood-thirsty fractions set by Ollie’s Candy (Candy Ride {Arg}). Getting dragged right into that vortex appeared to leave the last-gasp winner Ce Ce (Elusive Quality) rather hollowed out, when she ran in the GII Santa Maria S., and Ollie’s Candy may well face competition up front in her rematch with Point Of Honor.

Even her wild speed palpably held up at Oaklawn that day, so the way Point Of Honor circled the rest of the field gives her every right to carve her name below that of Serena’s Song (Rahy) in the storied Ogden Phipps roll of honor. (Albeit she won it, in 1996, in its previous guise as the Hempstead H.).

That champion was one of the most cherished of the young Weaver’s charges in his days with Lukas; so, too, was Tabasco Cat who sired Point Of Honor’s granddam. So success today would really bring a memorable week to a perfect end. Weaver’s barn was picked against illustrious competition, after all, when this filly was among the first horses Connelly sent to the East Coast.

According to George Bernard Shaw, we all have “one main point of honor and a few minor ones.” A horse as freakish as Vekoma would, in fairness, crown many a training career, but this filly is entitled to even the honors. The difference in Saratoga this year will, no doubt, be as melancholy for Weaver as for everyone else. But having gone there last year still seeking the second Grade I of his career, what a consolation if he could head up this time seeking his third of the summer.

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Ollie’s Candy Has Some Questions to Answer in Phipps

With divisional heavies the likes of Midnight Bisou (Midnight Lute), Serengeti Empress (Alternation) and the comebacking Eclipse Award winner Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) all eye-balling a potential clash in the GII Fleur de Lis S. at Churchill Downs in two weeks’ time, Saturday’s GI Ogden Phipps S. may lack a ‘marquee’ name, per se, but it remains a competitive affair that offers the winner a fees-paid berth into the GI Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Keeneland Nov. 7.

Ollie’s Candy (Candy Ride {Arg}), winner of last year’s GI Clement L. Hirsch S., was fourth in last year’s Distaff, but has not lost a step at five. A distant third to Ce Ce (Elusive Quality) in the Mar. 14 GI Beholder Mile S., the homebred was given an enterprising ride by Joel Rosario in the GI Apple Blossom H. Apr. 18, leading on a supersonic pace only to be nabbed on the line by Ce Ce. She is a deserving favorite, but must prove she can handle this track’s one-turn route configuration and there figure to be no breathers this time around either.

Somewhat surprisingly, Point of Honor (Curlin) makes her first appearance at Big Sandy, having won the 2019 GII Black-Eyed Susan S. at Pimlico while finishing runner-up in the GI CCA Oaks and GI Alabama S. at Saratoga. A useful second in a seven-furlong handicap at Tampa Mar. 7, the chestnut found herself as many as 23 lengths off the pace in the Apple Blossom after a slow start, was very wide on the turn and ran on gamely to be third, beaten under three lengths.

“We hope for a better trip,” said Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners’ President Aron Wellman. “She got pinched at the back and lost all position. She was hung wide and had to weave her way through traffic and still ran very, very well in a highly-rated Apple Blossom. I was proud of the effort that day and I’m hoping for a better trip.”

The beautifully bred Pink Sands (Tapit), a daughter of GISW Her Smile (Include), was a listed winner last season, but has discovered her best form this year at five with swooping successes in the one-mile GIII Rampart S. in December and in the GII Inside Information S. the following month. She, too, would benefit from any speed duel up ahead of her and a board finish at this level would enhance her already considerable value going forward.

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