Personal Ensign

We usually pick a horse from the previous weekend to highlight as our Horse of the Week. We went back a little further this week, to 1988 to be exact. Long before Zenyatta came to the Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs in search of perfection, it was unbeaten Personal Ensign who provided as dramatic a finish to a horse race as you’ll ever see. And her impact on the Breeders’ Cup didn’t end there.

A product of the famed Ogden Phipps breeding program, Personal Ensign was dominant in a Maiden Special and the Grade 1 Frizette Stakes at Belmont Park in the fall of 1986. She would have gone favored in that year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies but a fracture to her left hind pastern put those plans on ice and threatened to end her career.

The brave filly’s return to the races in September of 1987 helped put renowned equine surgeon Dr. Larry Bramlage on the map. She won her comeback, an allowance, along with the Rare Perfume Stakes (G2) and the Beldame Stakes (G1) over older mares. She didn’t even notice those five metal screws Dr. Bramlage had put in her pastern. With another Grade 1 secured, trainer Shug McGaughey elected to bypass a cross country trip to the 1987 Breeders’ Cup at Hollywood Park.

McGaughey’s patience was rewarded with a longer and more sensational 1988 campaign. She made her first start on May 15 in the Shuvee H. (G1) and won with her typical ease. Two more graded wins against females followed before a tilt against males in the Whitney H. (G1) at Saratoga. Only two dared face Personal Ensign that day, the tough gelding King’s Swan and the top sprinter/miler Gulch. An early afternoon monsoon turned the Saratoga strip into a lake and Personal Ensign seemed to struggle early on, a portent of things to come on Breeders’ Cup day. But she simply had more class than her male rivals and got to the wire first. Her record was now a perfect 10 for 10.

A filly named Winning Colors won the Kentucky Derby in 1988 and it was only a matter of time until she crossed paths with Personal Ensign. The showdown came in the one-mile Maskette Stakes (G1), now called the Go For Wand S. on September 10, 1988. In one of the greatest races nobody saw (attendance that day was under 10,000, no national TV) Personal Ensign and rider Randy Romero reeled in a loose-on-the-lead Winning Colors.

Personal Ensign added another Beldame win to her resume and brought a pristine 12 for 12 record into her final start, the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Winning Colors was there again too, along with Kentucky Oaks/Mother Goose/Coaching Club American Oaks winner Goodbye Halo.

The rains also came that Breeders’ Cup Saturday and Personal Ensign would have to conquer a sloppy track again to retire with a perfect record. I was at Saratoga the day Personal Ensign won the Whitney over that water-logged surface and I was half a country a way watching the Breeders’ Cup Distaff on TV. About half way through both races I said out loud:

“Uh oh.”

In both contests Personal Ensign just didn’t seem comfortable running over those soggy surfaces. But she was a champion and, watching the replays over a quarter of a century later, I almost get the sense she was using each stride early on to figure out how to navigate the slop. Each time her legs hit the soggy ground they gave her just a little more comfort and confidence. Or maybe she just couldn’t stand to see other horses in front of her. All I know is that it looked pretty hopeless at the top of the stretch in the Distaff. Winning Colors was rolling, Personal Ensign had put herself in the race but still had too much to do, still five lengths away. A gallant second or third on a track she hated would be her final salvo.

But no. She would dig deeper, stretch her stride to the limit, even if she felt like she was running on taffy. That that big gray Derby-winning filly is in front of me. And that’s not acceptable.

Personal Ensign got there first. I don’t know how. I still can’t tell who won when I watch that race but the photo tells the story: “Personal Ensign, you’re the first major runner to retire undefeated in 80 years.”

Personal Ensign was just as incredible in her second career and produced, among others, 1995 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner My Flag, who in turn is the dam of 2002 Juvenile Fillies heroine Storm Flag Flying. Not many other horses, male of female, have had a greater impact on racing’s Championship weekend. Or the thoroughbred breed for that matter.