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Personal Ensign

Personal Ensign
PersonalEnsign-BookCover.jpg
Personal Ensign by Bill Heller
Sire Private Account
Grandsire Damascus
Dam Grecian Banner
Damsire Hoist The Flag
Sex Mare
Foaled April 27, 1984
Country United States
Colour Bay
Breeder Ogden Phipps
Owner Ogden Phipps
Trainer Claude R. McGaughey III
Record 13:13-0-0
Earnings $1,679,880
Major wins
Frizette Stakes (1986)
Beldame Stakes (1987, 1988)
Rare Perfume Stakes (1987)
Breeders' Cup Distaff (1988)
Whitney Handicap (1988)
Hempstead Handicap (1988)
Shuvee Handicap (1988)
Molly Pitcher Handicap (1988)
Maskette Handicap (1988)
Awards
U.S. Champion Older Female (1988)
Kentucky Broodmare of the Year (1996)
Honours
U.S. Racing Hall of Fame (1993)
#48 - Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century
Personal Ensign Handicap at Saratoga Race Course

Personal Ensign (April 27, 1984 – April 8, 2010) was an American champion Thoroughbred racehorse.

A bay filly by Private Account out of Grecian Banner (by Hoist The Flag), she was the undefeated winner of 13 races and won $1,679,880 in the United States from 1986 to 1988. For this feat, she was voted the 1988 Eclipse Award as the American Champion Older Female Horse.

Personal Ensign was bred and raced by Ogden Phipps. Produced from a mating of Phipp's homebred stallion Private Account and the mare Grecian Banner, Personal Ensign was a full sister to Personal Flag. Their combined exploits in 1988 led to their dam, Grecian Banner, being named Kentucky Broodmare of the Year, a feat Personal Ensign later also accomplished.

Personal Ensign began her racing career as a two-year-old in 1986 with Randy Romero as her regular jockey. He was aboard her for all but one of her thirteen wins. In her first season, she won a maiden race as well as the prestigious Frizette Stakes at Belmont Park. A fracture to her pastern bone cut short her two-year-old season shortly before the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, a race she would have been favored to win. Dr. Bramlage inserted five screws in her left hind leg. Many people were sure her racing career was over.

Returning to the races late in her three-year-old year, Personal Ensign resumed her winning ways, taking four more races, including two stakes. Her biggest win that year was the Beldame Stakes against older mares.

In 1988, Personal Ensign won all seven of her starts, including the Shuvee Stakes, the Hempstead Stakes (by seven lengths), the Maskette Stakes, and the Beldame Stakes —all prestigious Grade I races against fillies. At Saratoga, she defeated males in the historic Whitney Handicap. Her swan song was a nose victory over Kentucky Derby winner Winning Colors in the Breeders' Cup Distaff, a race that is often referred to as the most exciting finish in Breeder's Cup history.


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Wikipedia

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