Ask the Moon seeks second straight Grade 1 in Personal
Ensign
Although the top draw this weekend at Saratoga is the Travers S. (G1) on
Saturday, fans visiting the area should stick around for Sunday’s running of the
$300,000
Personal Ensign S. (G1), which drew a competitive field of six fillies and
mares also going the classic distance of 1 1/4 miles.
ASK THE MOON (Malibu Moon), the 2-1 morning-line favorite for the Personal
Ensign, is the top draw in the race and reminds trainer Martin Wolfson a lot of
another top-shelf winner he had, Jessica Is Back (Put It Back), who was retired
earlier this year. Both mares were claims by trainer Gary Contessa for
Farnsworth Stables and soon sent to Wolfson before going on to win Grade 1
races.
Jessica Is Back went for $50,000 in April 2009 and became a steady stakes
performer before taking the Princess Rooney S. (G1) the following year at Calder
Race Course. Ask the Moon was claimed for $75,000 this past June at Belmont Park
and two races later won the Ruffian Invitational H. (G1) at Saratoga.
“She’s training very well,” Wolfson said. “We claimed her because we — me
and the owners — love (her sire) Malibu Moon. She was one of those
hard-knocking mares and she fit the program.”
In her first race for her new connections, Ask the Moon flashed her high
speed in the one-turn Sky Beauty going 1 1/16 miles at Belmont before fading to
third. She transferred from Contessa to Wolfson’s barn for her next start and
led gate-to-wire, beating runner-up SUPER ESPRESSO (Medaglia d’Oro) in the
Ruffian by 5 3/4 lengths.
“She was speed crazy going one turn,” Wolfson said of his charge’s run in the
Sky Beauty. “It was a good race to observe her. I liked the way the race at
Saratoga fell into place. She’s really relaxing better, and I think the two
turns help her.”
Wolfson won the Personal Ensign two years ago with Icon Project, who crushed
her foes by 13 1/2 lengths. The trainer has confidence in Ask the Moon but
doesn’t predict that kind of giant score.
“It’s her first time (going) 1 1/4 miles,” he said. “She seems like she’ll go
that far.”
Super Espresso, owned by celebrity chef Bobby Flay and trained by Todd
Pletcher, will try to turn the tables on Ask the Moon while facing off for the
second straight time. In her past three races the dark bay four-year-old has run
second in the Ruffian, third in the Ogden Phipps H. (G1) at Belmont Park and
captured the Allaire DuPont Distaff (G3) on Preakness Day at Pimlico.
Super Espresso’s only other race at the Spa came when she finished third in a
maiden a year ago. Ramon Dominguez, aboard for the Allaire DuPont Distaff and
Ruffian, has the return call Sunday.
An interesting wild card in the Personal Ensign is PACHATTACK (Pulpit), who
will be making her first dirt start after 23 races on turf and artificial
surfaces. Trained by Gerard Butler, the five-year-old mare ran eighth in the 1
3/16-mile Beverly D. S. (G1) over Arlington Park’s turf following a dominating
six-length score in the nine-furlong Arlington Matron (G3) on the Polytrack.
Pachattack has won at the Personal Ensign distance of 10 furlongs, posting a
5 3/4-length decision in the Maple Leaf S. on Woodbine’s Polytrack last
November. She’ll have Junior Alvarado taking the reins Sunday.
“She’s very, very good,” said Butler’s assistant trainer, Andrew Morris, who
has Pachattack stabled in Pletcher’s barn at Saratoga. “The decision to try dirt
was between the owner (M. V. Deegan) and trainer. She’s by Pulpit out of a
stakes-producing mare. She has broodmare potential. We don’t know how she’ll
perform until we try her on it, but all she has to do is translate her form from
the Polytrack and she’ll perform well.”
ACRYONYM (Empire Maker) doesn’t have quite the same resume as the prior
three, but the Bill Mott trainee will get her shot at Grade 1 glory as well in
the Personal Ensign. Her only black-type credit to date came as a second last
out in the overnight Madame Jumel S. going 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga. Jose Lezcano
takes over for jockey John Velazquez, who will get a leg up aboard Grade
2-placed PROTESTING (A.P. Indy).
Completing the field is Delaware Park-based dual stakes victress TIZ MIZ SUE
(Tiznow), who just missed second in the Ruffian by a neck for trainer Steve
Hobby.
One race prior to the Personal Ensign, WINE POLICE (Speightstown) will face
off against the likes of CHIPSHOT (Peace Rules) and CAL NATION (Distorted Humor)
in the $75,000
Distorted Humor S. at six furlongs. The Steve Asmussen pupil was under
consideration for Saturday’s King’s Bishop S. (G1), but his connections opted
for this less challenging spot. Wine Police most recently finished fourth in the
Amsterdam S. (G2) and was third in last year’s Hopeful S. (G1), both at
Saratoga.
Chipshot’s only try at the Spa came as a fifth in the Sanford S. (G2) last
July, but he is exiting his first stakes win in the Select S. at Monmouth Park.
Cal Nation was second in the Select following a third-place run in the Carry
Back S. (G2) at Calder.