Six of the top East Coast fillies and mares will contest the GI Personal Ensign Saturday afternoon at the Spa with a berth into the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff on the line.
Trainer Todd Pletcher enters the duo of Stopchargingmaria (Tale of the Cat) and Got Lucky (A.P. Indy). The former is something of a Spa specialist, with four wins and a second in her five starts over the surface. She also has five wins and one second in six starts at the nine-furlong distance. The winner of last year's GI Coaching Club American Oaks and GI Alabama S. has just three previous starts this year, having rallied to finish second in the seven furlong GI Madison S. at Keeneland Apr. 4, before easily annexing the GIII Allaire Dupont Distaff at Pimlico May 15. She most recently sat off the pace of champion Untapable (Tapit) and outfinished the Eclipse Award winner to take the GIII Shuvee H. over this course and distance Aug. 2.
“We were pointing for the [GI] Odgen Phipps [June 6] and she got sick so we had to miss that,” explained Pletcher, a two-time winner of the Personal Ensign. “But she rebounded really well and I thought her last race was very good. She loves this track and has been very good here.”
Got Lucky rolls into this one off a 5 1/2-length romp in Monmouth's GIII Molly Pitcher S. July 3 and the Lady Secret S. over the Oceanport oval Aug. 2.
“Got Lucky is excellent right now,” Pletcher said. “She seems to be in career form and she's coming in off a big win, so we'll see how she handles the step up in class. Typical of a lot of the A. P. Indys, she seems to keep getting better and better as she matures.”
Untapable is having a solid year, though it's been a shade less outstanding than her sophomore season. The Winchell homebred was runner-up as the long odds-on favorite in Oaklawn's GII Azeri S. Mar. 14 but improved for that effort to land the GI Apple Blossom H. there Apr. 10. The bay was a well-beaten second in the Ogden Phipps and set the pace before finishing second to Stopchargingmaria in the Shuvee.
“I was disappointed she got beat in the Shuvee, but I feel like she's trained really well here since and expect a huge race from her in the Personal Ensign,” conditioner Steve Asmussen said.
Sheer Drama (Burning Roma), winner of the GII Royal Delta S. in March, has had a stellar season so far. Second in the May 1 GI La Troienne S. and June 13 GII Fleur de Lis H., she was most recently victorious in the GI Delaware H. July 18.
“She shipped great [from Gulfstream Park] and wasn't nervous at all,” said trainer David Fawkes. “She's doing everything right. [The Delaware H.] was her best race so far so we're going to see if she can reproduce that. There is no question this race will be tougher. I think she likes a mile-and-a-quarter [better] so this is definitely a tougher spot. But if we're going to make the Breeders' Cup, she's going to have to run a mile-and-an-eighth.”
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