Taking Down the Favorites in the Personal Ensign Stakes

A compact, but excellent, field of five fillies and mares will travel 1 1/8 miles on the Saratoga main strip in the $500,000 Personal Ensign S. (G1) on Friday. 

I am not doubting that champion #4 Idiomatic (6-5) and recent Ogden Phipps S. (G1) queen #5 Randomized (8-5) are arguably the two best horses in the field, but the duo should clash from the opening bell and aid a contender from off of the pace. 

Personal Ensign Wagers

• $5 exacta 2,3 with 2,3,4,5 ($30)
• $2 trifecta 2,3 with 2,3,4 with all ($24)

In the Ogden Phipps, the latter got the jump on Idiomatic, and pilot Florent Geroux might try to avoid that scenario Friday. The two should force a fast pace from the start and potentially be vulnerable in the final furlong. 

I’m not certain if I like #2 Soul of an Angel (5-1) or #3 Raging Sea (9-2) more, so I will use both on top. 

The former is no fluke, as she was a sensational Ruffian (G2) winner three back and just missed to Idiomatic in the Molly Pitcher (G3) at Monmouth with a less than desirable voyage. Trained by Saffie Joseph, the five-year-old daughter of Atreides has never been better and wouldn’t be a surprise to me. 

Raging Sea, a Chad Brown trainee, is likely the more logical choice. The three-time graded queen has won four of her last five races in advance of Friday and looked good on this surface most recently when pulling away late in the Shuvee (G2) over a solid field. The Curlin chestnut faces a much more difficult task on this occasion, but the race might set up for her with Flavien Prat taking the reins once again. 

#1 Xigera (10-1) turned into a new animal when moving to the dirt last fall as she rolled home a trio of emphatic stakes victories while virtually unchallenged, led by a triumph in the Mother Goose (G2) at Aqueduct. 

The four-year-old daughter of Nyquist has yet to regain that form from a trio of appearances in 2024, however, so I can’t back her in this until she gets back to her top level for Phil Bauer.