Zipse: Nest faces test to stay perfect in Saratoga graded stakes
Nest is very good everywhere but appears to be most at home at the friendly confines of Saratoga. She will look to add to her perfect three graded-stakes wins in three career starts at the upstate New York oval when she headlines the field for Friday’s Grade 1, $600,000 Personal Ensign Stakes.
Standing in the way of her Saratoga perfection will be a talented group of older fillies and mares that is expected to include Clairière, Secret Oath, Society and Idiomatic.
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Owned by Repole Stable, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Michael House, the 2022 3-year-old filly champion has made only one start this year, and it was a beauty. Looking the part of a powerhouse at 4, Nest easily defeated Clairière and the rest in the Shuvee (G2) on July 23 at the Spa. It was her first race since the Breeders’ Cup Distaff nearly nine months before.
In 2022, Nest powered her way to an Eclipse Award with five stakes victories, three of which were of the Grade 1 variety.
It was Saratoga last summer, with impressive wins in a pair of Grade 1 races, which separated her from the pack among other sophomore fillies. Comprehensive victories in the Coaching Club American Oaks and Alabama at the Spa helped make her an easy choice for year-end honors.
Trained by Todd Pletcher, Nest also romped home in the Ashland (G1) at Keeneland and the Beldame (G2) at Aqueduct. Solid runner-up efforts in the Belmont Stakes (G1) against the boys and Kentucky Oaks (G1) were other key components of her championship campaign.
Still, it was a season that ended in disappointment when she came up a bit empty down the stretch and finished fourth behind a trio of top older mares in her first attempt in the Breeders’ Cup. She will get another shot at the world championships in 2 1/2 months at Santa Anita.
While Churchill Downs, where she finished second of 14 in the Kentucky Oaks, remains the only track where she has run and never won, the $350,000 purchase at the Keeneland September 2020 yearling sale seems to adore the track and surroundings at Saratoga.
Signaling her readiness for Friday’s Grade 1 test, the daughter of Curlin looked great Saturday morning, when she worked a half-mile in 48.75 seconds in company with the multiple graded-stakes-winning older male Wit.
Although she gained revenge on both, the Personal Ensign will have a pair of classy mares who have beaten Nest. A winner of 8 of 12 overall, she finished three-lengths behind Clairière in last fall’s Breeders’ Cup Distaff and was one spot behind Secret Oath in the Kentucky Oaks.
Clairiere has been nothing but class since winning her career debut at Churchill Downs in October 2020. Also a daughter of Curlin, she has been facing a steady diet of big races since. An earner of better than $3.1 million, she had won two straight Grade 1 races before finishing second to Nest in the Shuvee.
Secret Oath may lack consistency, but at her best, the four-time stakes winner is a dangerous opponent. Given a little more time between races in advance of the Personal Ensign, the daughter of Arrogate could be ready to fire Friday.
Throw Society and Idiomatic into the mix, and it promises to be a very interesting race. The former has a high turn of early speed that at times can overwhelm her opponents. Last year’s Cotillion (G1) was proof of that as well as her most recent race when she ran her opponents off their collective feet in the Chicago (G3) at Ellis Park.
Idiomatic, meanwhile, is yet another daughter of Curlin and comes from the powerful barn of Brad Cox. The developing Juddmonte homebred has won five of her last six races, including the Shawnee (G3) and Delaware Handicap (G2) in her most recent two.
Given her prior three races at Saratoga, the champion is deserving of favoritism Friday. Looking at her competition, though, she will need to be at her best to keep her perfect record at the Spa intact. It will be a test for Nest as she works her way to the Breeders’ Cup in November.