Abel Tasman, Elate on schedule for clash in Personal Ensign
Abel Tasman and Elate, two of the top contenders in next Saturday's Grade 1, $700,000 Personal Ensign at Saratoga, are scheduled for their final tune-ups on Sunday morning on opposite coasts.
Grade 1 Ogden Phipps winner Abel Tasman, trained by two-time Triple Crown winner Bob Baffert, will breeze at Del Mar and is scheduled to be shipped from California to the Spa on Wednesday.
Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott's Elate, winner of the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap, works here at Saratoga.
"She's doing well and she's right on schedule,'' Baffert said Saturday of his 4-year-old Quality Road filly, who has a record of 7-4-0 in 13 starts for $2,412,385 in earnings. "If she runs the way she has in New York, we'll be good."
In addition to winning the Ogden Phipps at Belmont on June 9, the 3-year-old filly champion owned by China Horse Club International won last year's Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga - by a head over Elate - and the Grade 1 Acorn at Belmont.
Elate, a 4-year-old filly also by Quality Road, looks to avenge the narrow CCA Oaks loss in the 1 1/8-mile Personal Ensign, a "Win and You're In'' qualifier for the Breeders' Cup Distaff.
"She had a good solid work last week,'' Mott said. "She's been doing well. We'll give her a little blowout and get her to the race."
Owned by Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider, Elate has a record of 5-3-1 from 11 starts for earnings of $1,270,325.
"They were a head apart here last year, so this should be an interesting race," said Mott.
Baffert won't have a chance to make it three in a row in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Runhappy Travers, having won with West Coast last year and Arrogate in 2016, but it will be a big weekend nonetheless. The two-time Triple Crown winning trainer (American Pharoah in 2015 and Justify this year) will join NYRA's Walk of Fame that honors owners, trainer and jockeys that have significantly impacted Saratoga's history in a ceremony on Friday.
Other Personal Ensign probables are Farrell, Fuhriously Kissed, Valadorna and Wow Cat.