A very close person to me and very dear to my heart has this saying; “things happen for a reason and no one can predict just when”. This the first thing I thought of last Friday around lunch time when it was announced by Claiborne Farm that the undefeated mare Personal Ensign had past away at the age of 26. It was only a few days before that I was looking at racing almanac from 2008 and saw a list of Breeder’s Cup race winners with their whereabouts after thier retirement. I saw that it listed her as pensioned since 2006 (no longer breeding) at Claiborne Farm in Kentucky . When I read that she had past away, it gave me a chill and got me thinking more when I looked at the date on last Friday’s calendar and saw who would be racing.
The most famous undefeated mare of today; Zenyatta was competing for her 16 straight victory in a row which would tie two other famous horses; Cigar and Citation. The only other mare to achieve 13 straight undefeated starts was Personal Ensign back in 1988. It was so ironic that the day after this great race mare had past away, that Zenyatta was continuing her march in the record books. It was just kind of a funny that it happened almost on the same day and could be considered a passing of the torch in greatness between two legendary distaff runners.
Personal Ensign was born in 1984 and ran under the black & cherry colors of the Phipps family. Trained by Shug McGaughey, she was two for two in her two year old season before she suffered an injury that could have threatened her career. Eleven months later and with five screws in her leg; Personal Ensign returned to the races and won four races at Belmont Park in a little over a month during the Fall of 1987. She would return in her four year old season and the legend was born. Winning races at Belmont Park , Saratoga and Monmouth Park ; Personal Ensign was perfect in her career going into the Breeder’s Cup Distaff at Churchill Downs November 5th 1988. It was there that she put on the greatest performance by a thoroughbred that I’ve ever seen to date. On a track surface that she did not like (muddy) she roared from the back of the pack to get her nose on the wire and beat Kentucky Derby winner; Winning Colors. It was truly an amazing effort by a gutsy filly and it made her retire undefeated.
I personally saw her at Saratoga in the Whitney Stakes versus Gulch and King’s Swan. It was the only time she defeated the “boys” and I was very fortunate to have the privilege to see her in the flesh that warm summer day. In the breeding shed, her professionalism and gameness was transferred over to her offspring. Her grade I winners were; Miner’s Mark, My Flag, Traditionally and Our Emblem the sire of Kentucky Derby winner; War Emblem. Her granddaughter also was a Breeder’s Cup winner; Storm Flag Flying. She was champion filly and mare of 1988 and broodmare of the year in 1996. Before she was pensioned in 2006, she had one more offspring. That runner wasn’t the same quality as her previous foals and what was even more ironic was that foal; Baronial had raced last Friday evening at Mountaineer Park in West Virginia, the evening after his mothers death.
She was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in 1993 and is consider one of the best fillies to race in the last thirty years. She like so many of the horses I first got to know when I was introduced to the sport in 1986 are slowly leaving us and it really makes me feel a bit old. But, the memories of Personal Ensign and that unbelievable effort she had in her final career start will be forever etched in my mind
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