Saratoga: Grade 1’s Personal Ensign, Jerkens Previews

By Ryan Martin —-

Champion Midnight Bisou seeks back-to-back wins in G1 Personal Ensign by NYRA Bets

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – 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.

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Saratoga Race Course, and the best way to bet every race of the 40-day summer meet. Available to horseplayers nationwide, NYRA Bets is currently offering a $200 new member bonus in addition to a host of special weekly offers. The NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.

By Brian Bohl —-

No Parole looks to lock up another Grade 1 win in Saturday’s H. Allen Jerkens Memorial presented by Runhappy

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A rematch featuring the superfecta of last month’s Grade 1 Woody Stephens will highlight another high-caliber contest, with No Parole looking to propel his 3 ¾-length victory into more glory in Saturday’s Grade 1, $300,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial presented by Runhappy on Whitney Day at Saratoga Race Course.

The 36th running of the H. Allen Jerkens, a seven-furlong main track sprint for 3-year-olds, is one of five stakes overall on the 12-race card and part of three Grade 1s, joining the $500,000 Personal Ensign presented by NYRA Bets for fillies and mares 4-years-old and up, and the $750,000 Whitney for 4-year-olds and up going 1 1/18 miles. The Personal Ensign is a “Win and You’re In” qualifier to the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff in November at Keeneland, while the Whitney will offer the winner an all-fees paid berth to the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Carded as Race 10, the H. Allen Jerkens, formerly called the King’s Bishop and renamed for the late Hall of Famer trainer known as the “Chief,” will have a post time of 6:18 p.m. Eastern. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern. Saratoga Live will present full coverage beginning at 1 p.m. Eastern on FOX Sports and MSG Networks.

No Parole, owned by Maggi Moss and Greg Tramontin, is unbeaten going one turn, registering a perfect 4-for-4 ledger in sprints. Overall, the Tom Amoss trainee has won 5-of-6 starts, including his gate-to-wire win in the seven-furlong Woody Stephens on June 20 over a fast Belmont track, earning his first triple-digit Beyer Speed Figure with an even 100.

Ahead of his first Saratoga start, No Parole worked twice over the main track, going four furlongs in 50.50 seconds on July 16 before being ramped up on July 24, when he covered the same distance in 46.42.

“He’s doing well. He had a much more enthusiastic work last week, which was by design,” Amoss said. “Everything he had been doing before then was just easy. To sharpen him up, we put a good piece of work in him with a sharp half mile. He came out of it well.”

The sophomore Louisiana-bred son of Violence is unbeaten going one turn. In the Woody Stephens, he went to the front and led at every point of call, outkicking the Steve Asmussen-trained duo of Echo Town and Shoplifted, who he will face again on Saturday.

No Parole’s only defeat took place in the Grade 2 Rebel at Oaklawn Park going a two-turn mile and a sixteenth. Amoss said his charge has continued to develop and improve from that effort, winning both of his starts.

“I think what you’re seeing is just a typical development of a talented horse, if you take away the experiment of going two turns,” Amoss said.

Amoss, who is also an analyst for Saratoga Live, will have Luis Saez back aboard after the jockey piloted No Parole in the Woody Stephens in his first time aboard the colt. He will be back in the irons, breaking from post 6.

“I think he’s the perfect rider for No Parole and he was my first choice when we came to Belmont and fortunately, we were able to get him,” Amoss said.

Bred by Coteau Grove Farms, No Parole is out of the stakes-placed Bluegrass Cat broodmare Plus One.

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, who will saddle Improbable in the Whitney in Race 9, will send out Grade 1-winner Eight Rings in the sprint contest. A debut winner last August at Del Mar, Eight Rings won a Grade 1 as a juvenile in the American Pharoah, named for Baffert’s 2015 Triple Crown winner.

After running sixth in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in November at Santa Anita, Baffert gave the son of Empire Maker five months off. But Baffert said he might have brought back the $520,000 purchase too soon, as Eight Rings ran fifth in the six-furlong Bachelor on April 25 at Oaklawn. He has since been training at Del Mar, and Baffert said he is expecting better things as he ships to New York for the first time.

“He’s doing good. I probably shouldn’t have brought him back in that last one,” Baffert said. “That might have been a trainer error there. But he’s doing good and we’re taking a shot.”

Eight Rings is owned by SF Racing, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables, Frederick Hertrich, III, John Golconda Stables and Coolmore Stud. Joel Rosario will be aboard from post 2.

Asmussen will saddle three contenders, with the Hall of Famer sending out Woody Stephens runner-up Echo Town and third-place Shoplifted in addition to Sonneman.

L and N Racing’s Echo Town has never finished off the board in six starts, posting a 3-2-1 ledger. Making his graded stakes debut last out, the Speightstown colt stayed next-to-last in the five-horse field through six furlongs before rallying for second. He earned a 93 Beyer for the effort, marking his fourth consecutive race registering at least a 90.

Ricardo Santana, Jr., aboard for Echo Town’s last five starts, will have the return engagement from post 4.

Shoplifted will return to the site of his debut win last July when he posted a 4 ½-length score. Owned by Grandview Equine, Cheyenne Stables and LNJ Foxwoods, the son of Into Mischief earned graded stakes blacktype with a second-place finish to Basin in the Grade 1 Hopeful last September at the Spa.
After running out of the money in the Grade 3 Southwest and the Oaklawn Stakes in the spring at Oaklawn, the $800,000 purchase at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Florida Select Sale was cut back in distance and ran third in the Woody Stephens. Staying at seven furlongs, Shoplifted will have the services of jockey Tyler Gaffalione from post 7.

Courtland Farm’s Sonneman made his stakes debut in his fifth career appearance last out in what turned out to be a match race with Celtic Striker in the Easy Goer on June 25 at Belmont. Scratches whittled the field down to two, with Sonneman staying one length behind at the half-mile mark before Celtic Striker pulled away for a 19 ¾-length romp.

After posting two wins and two runner-ups in his first four starts, the Curlin colt will get another opportunity at stakes action, drawing post 3 with Jose Lezcano aboard.

Live Oak Plantation’s Tap It to Win will make his first start since running in the 1 1/8-mile Grade 1 Belmont Stakes on June 20. Trained by Mark Casse, Tap It to Win broke his maiden at Saratoga last August and won his first two starts to his sophomore campaign before being stretched out in the first leg of the Triple Crown.

Tap It to Win is 2-for-2 in dirt sprints in his career and will try to extend that mark on Saturday.

“We’re excited to get him back out there in the Jerkens,” Casse said. “His one race at Saratoga was extremely good in a sprint. We’re hoping that going back there, he shows what he did last year.”

Hall of Famer John Velazquez, who has won this race four times, including last year aboard Mind Control, will ride from post 11.

Mischevious Alex, a two-time graded stakes-winner for Cash is King and LC Racing, ran fourth in the Woody Stephens to break a three-race winning streak. Conditioned by John Servis, Mischevious Alex won the Grade 3 Swale in February at Gulfstream Park and followed with a two-length victory in the Grade 3 Gotham in March at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Irad Ortiz, Jr. will ride, breaking from post 5.

Trainer Jeremiah Englehart will send out New York-bred Captain Bombastic, the last-out winner against state breds in the Mike Lee, who carries a 3-2-1 record into his first graded stakes appearance. He picks up the services of Hall of Famer Javier Castellano for the first time, drawing post 10.

His stablemate, Three Technique, has two wins and three-runner up finishes in six starts with his only off-the-board finish last out when fourth in the Grade 2 Rebel in March on a sloppy and sealed Oaklawn track. Jose Ortiz will depart from post 8.

Rounding out the field is Liam’s Pride, a last-out winner of the Gold Fever on a sloppy Belmont track on July 10, for trainer Doug O’Neill [post 9, Dylan Davis]; and Hopeful Treasure, conditioned by Michael Pino, who will make his first start against graded stakes company [post 1, Manny Franco].

For the complete Saratoga Live broadcast schedule, and additional programming information, visit https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule.

NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Saratoga Race Course and the best way to bet every race of the 40-day summer meet. Available to horseplayers nationwide, NYRA Bets is currently offering a $200 new member bonus in addition to a host of special weekly offers. The NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at www.NYRABets.com.