Icon Project romps in Personal Ensign

Icon Project turned the Personal Ensign into a frolic at Saratoga (EquiSport Photos) In a scene reminiscent of the June 20 New York S. (G3) at Belmont Park, Andrew Rosen’s ICON PROJECT (Empire Maker) drew off by more than a dozen lengths to take Sunday’s $400,000 Personal Ensign S. (G1) at Saratoga. Tracking just off the early pace, the Marty Wolfson trainee took command entering the stretch and was never challenged en route to a 13 1/2-length victory under jockey Julien Leparoux, who wrapped up on his mount long before the wire. “I had been wanting to run her on the dirt — she’s by Empire Maker, and she trained great on dirt, ever since I got her from overseas,” Wolfson said. “When she was tugging at him at the three-eighths pole, it was just a question of how far she was going to win by. It was just like the New York H. This is the third Grade 1 I’ve won here, and they’re the best. I was a little surprised by how far she won by. (Next race?) We’ll keep our options open.” Icon Project settled in third while wide down the backstretch, allowing Weathered (Key Contender) and Unbridled Belle (Broken Vow) to slug it out through fractions of :23 4/5, :47 3/5 and 1:11 1/5 on the front end. Unbridled Belle began backing up nearing the final turn, and Icon Project was quick to take advantage, moving up to the outside of Weathered through a mile in 1:37. The two raced in tandem entering the turn, but Icon Project was already picking up the pace and drawing off by the time she hit the stretch. A clear winner from that point on, the four-year-old ran 1 1/4 miles in 2:02 1/5 on the good main track. “At the three-eighths pole she just grabbed the bit from me and she kept on going,” Leparoux explained. “She didn’t get tired at all, she just kept on going the whole way.”

Sent off the 9-5 favorite in the eight-horse field, Icon Project was worth
$5.60, $3.30 and $3.10 to her many supporters. Swift Temper (Giant’s Causeway),
who raced near the back on the backstretch, rallied down the center of the lane
to take second as the 9-2 fourth pick, paying $4.80 and $4.20 while ending the
$25.40 exacta.

“That filly ran a freaky race,” said Dale Romans, trainer of Swift Temper.
“It was very impressive. Of course, we are disappointed that we didn’t win, but
we’re still happy with the way our mare ran, but she was outrun by the winner
today. We were second best.”

Morena (Per) (Privately Held) was running just to the inside of the winner
entering the turn and managed to stay up for third as the 23-1 second longest
shot on the board. She returned $10 and finished out the $242 trifecta 5 1/2
lengths back of Swift Temper. Miss Isella (Silver Charm) rallied for fourth,
another half-length adrift, to complete the 6-7-3-4 superfecta that totaled
$809.

Weathered was next under the line, followed by With Flying Colors (A.P.
Indy), who is a granddaughter of the race’s namesake. Sea Chanter (War Chant)
and Unbridled Belle completed the order of finish.

Originally campaigned in Europe, Icon Project finished second to the classy
Dar Re Mi (Singspiel [Ire]) in her career debut before breaking her maiden next
time out. She got much closer to Dar Re Mi when third in the Aphrodite S., and
her resume also includes a respectable fourth in the Ribblesdale S. (Eng-G2) at
Royal Ascot last summer.

Icon Project was repatriated for 2009. A troubled fifth in an allowance in
her four-year-old bow, she bolted to a 4 3/4-length allowance score at
Gulfstream Park in April. Icon Project wheeled back 13 days later in the La
Prevoyante, where she was a non-threatening third to Criticism (GB)
(Machiavellian), and she made her
dirt debut in the muddy, sealed New York S. off a nearly two-month break. Those
conditions never fazed the bay miss, who pulled off to a 13 1/4-length score on
that day, and she remained on the main track last out to finish second in the
lucrative Delaware H. (G2) on July 19.

Sunday’s Personal Ensign win pushed Icon Project’s earnings to $661,128, and
her line now reads 11-4-2-2.

Bred by the Ronald Carter Family Trust in Kentucky, Icon Project was
purchased for $775,000 as a yearling at Keeneland September. She is out of Grade
1 heroine La Gueriere (Lord at War [Arg]), who is also responsible for Grade 2
victor Lasting Approval (With Approval), the stakes-placed pair of Warrior Song
(Unbridled’s Song) and Taiki Zillion (Twining), and La Comete (Holy Bull),
herself the dam of Woody Stephens S. (G2) and Tom Fool H. (G2) star Munnings
(Speightstown) who ran third in Saturday’s King’s Bishop S. (G1).

La Gueriere is herself a half-sister to five stakes winners, most notably
Grade 1-winning millionaire Al Mamoon (Believe It), Austrian highweight Born
Wild (Wild Again) and Grade 3 scorer Lost Soldier (Danzig). This is also the
family of millionaires Honor in War (Lord at War [Arg]), a Grade 1 hero, and
Master Command (A.P. Indy), a multiple Grade 2 winner. Icon Project’s third dam,
Futurity S. and Frizette S. queen Priceless Gem (Hail to Reason), produced the
legendary Allez France (*Sea-Bird).

La Gueriere has also produced a yearling full brother to Icon Project named
Empiricist (Empire Maker) and a 2009 colt by Corinthian.