Saratoga: Nest, Clairière clash again in 6-filly Personal Ensign

Nest will look to keep her perfect Saratoga record intact in Friday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Personal Ensign. She will again have to contend with multiple Grade 1 winner Clairière among others.

Trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, the 4-year-old Curlin bay enters the 1 1/8-mile test for older fillies and mares with a stellar Saratoga ledger, including Grade 1 wins in last year’s Coaching Club American Oaks and Alabama to go along with a last-out win off the bench on July 23 in the 1 1/8-mile Shuvee (G2). Clairière was second in the Shuvee.

Nest, the 2022 champion 3-year-old filly, captured last year’s Ashland (G1) at Keeneland ahead of a runner-up effort to Personal Ensign rival Secret Oath in the Kentucky Oaks (G1) at Churchill Downs. She gained redemption with a stellar summer campaign that began with a runner-up effort against the boys in the Belmont Stakes.

“She had a spectacular season as a 3-year-old, and I think her Coaching Club American Oaks and Alabama wins were two of the most impressive races we saw at Saratoga last year,” Pletcher said. “It earned her a championship, and she’s come back and is training even better at four.”

Nest finished fourth as the favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff in November at Keeneland to close out her championship campaign but returned victorious off an eight-month layoff when besting Clairière by 2 1/4 lengths in the Shuvee under a forward ride by Irad Ortiz Jr.

Pletcher admitted to being concerned at facing seasoned company off the layoff.

“It was all the way from the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, and it was a delayed start. Running a mile-and-an-eighth against a mare like Clairière was asking a lot,” Pletcher said. “But I was impressed by the way she did it and even more impressed by the way she came out of it and the way she’s trained since then.”

Pletcher noted the class and athleticism of the ultra-consistent Nest, who graduated at first asking traveling 1 1/16 miles in September 2021 at Belmont Park and two starts later captured the nine-furlong Demoiselle (G2) at Aqueduct

“She has that rare ability to quicken at the end of a dirt race. You don’t see a lot of horses show that display of turn of foot at the top of the stretch like we see her do,” Pletcher said. “She’s just a very, very special filly. She was one that we felt like early on. She didn’t debut until the fall. That like some of the Curlins, she didn’t want to be a five-furlong type horse, so we took our time with her and debuted going long.

“She’s shown that ability to get stronger the further she goes. She’s very easy to train, and she’s very relaxed in her gallops. Everything comes very easy to her. If you want her to work slow, she’ll do that. If you want her to work fast, she can do that. She’s a trainer’s dream really. She does whatever she asks you to do.”

Pletcher has saddled three previous Personal Ensign winners in Fleet Indian in 2006, Love and Pride in 2012 and Malathaat in 2022 and is one victory shy of equaling the race record shared by fellow Hall of Famers Shug McGaughey and Mack Miller.

Ortiz retains the mount from post 5 aboard Nest, who shares the top weight in the field at 124 pounds.

Stonestreet Stables’ Kentucky homebred Clairière breaks from post 6 with Joel Rosario and an assignment of 124 pounds. She will look to turn the tables after tracking from last of four in the Shuvee and attempting an inside move on Nest at the top of the lane. She then angled outside her familiar foe and chased gamely to finish 2 1/4 lengths back of the winner with 10 lengths back to third-place Skratch Kat.

Trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen, the classy Curlin bay has banked in excess of $3.1 million through a record of 20: 8-6-3 led by Grade 1 scores in the 2021 Cotillion at Parx, the Apple Blossom Handicap in April at Oaklawn Park and back-to-back editions of the Ogden Phipps in 2022 and 2023 at Belmont.

Clairière, who captured the Shuvee last year ahead of a troubled fifth in the Personal Ensign, worked five-eighths in 1:01.21 on Aug. 13 over the Oklahoma training track and followed with a half-mile breeze over the same track in 49.22 on Sunday morning.

“I’m very happy with how she’s training,” Asmussen said. “Obviously, Nest is a very tall order. We’ll see how we do, but we couldn’t be happier with Clairière going in. She’s a four-time Grade 1 winner of $3 million. She’s covered plenty of ground.”

Clairière is out of the three-time Grade 1-winning Bernardini mare Cavorting, who banked more than $2 million through a record of 13: 8-1-1.

Briland Farm’s Secret Oath will look to get back to winning ways for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas when reunited with jockey Luis Saez from post 3 carrying 122 pounds.

The 4-year-old Arrogate chestnut enjoyed a tremendous sophomore season with Saez at the helm, capturing the Honeybee (G3) at Oaklawn en route to victory in the Kentucky Oaks, besting Nest by two lengths.

She completed the exacta in both the CCA Oaks and Alabama and was third in the Cotillion (G1) at Parx before capping her sophomore season with a fifth-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff after making an early move.

Secret Oath made four tries this year under Tyler Gaffalione, beginning with a pair of starts at Oaklawn that featured a win in the 1 1/16-mile Azeri (G2) when 2 3/4 lengths better than Clairière before that foe turned the tables on her next out by a neck in the Apple Blossom. Secret Oath narrowly missed when second by a neck to Played Hard in the La Troienne (G1) in May at Churchill and was last seen finishing a flat fifth in the Ogden Phipps.

Secret Oath has banked more than $2.3 million through a record of 17: 6-4-3.

A new face at the top flight is Juddmonte’s well-bred Idiomatic from post 1 with Florent Géroux and 120 pounds. She has garnered back-to-back triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures from wins in the 1 1/16-mile Shawnee (G3) in June at Churchill, getting a 102, and the Delaware Handicap (G2) on July 8, getting a 100.

Trained by Brad Cox, the 4-year-old Curlin bay is out of the multiple graded-stakes placed First Defence mare Lockdown, who is a full-sister to 2014 champion older mare Close Hatches.

“I like her a lot. Obviously she’s a Juddmonte homebred, and you’re not lacking on pedigree there,” Cox said. “I think she’s a big, strong Curlin that should like this surface up here. We train her across the street (on the Oklahoma), and I love what we’ve seen from her so far.”

Idiomatic overcame a troubled trip as the odds-on favorite to win the 1 3/16-mile Delaware Handicap while carrying a field-high 121 pounds under returning rider Géroux and besting graded-stakes winner Classy Edition by a head.

“A stumble away from there. It was not the trip we were expecting, but she was able to overcome some things throughout the race and stay on for the win,” Cox said. “We’re hopeful against this Grade 1 company we can get away well and get a little bit cleaner trip.”

Idiomatic made five of her first six starts over the Turfway Park synthetic, graduating on debut in April 2022 and taking a 1 1/4-mile optional claimer in February ahead of a first stakes score in the 1 1/16-mile Latonia in March.

She has worked four times over the Oklahoma training track, including a bullet five-eighths of a mile in 1:00.20 on Aug. 11 and a five-furlong effort in 1:01.88 Saturday.

“She breezed last week (and) this week as well,” Cox said. “She was meant to breeze Friday, but we held it one day just because of the wet weather. Love what we saw from her.”

Rounding out a talented field are graded stakes-winner Sixtythreecaliber from post 4 with Kendrick Carmouche and 118 pounds for trainer Tom Amoss and owners MyRacehorse and Spendthrift Farm and Coffeepot Stables’ graded-stakes placed Malloy from post 2 with Dylan Davis and 118 pounds for trainer Wayne Catalano.