Stewart reflects on Forever Unbridled's 2017 Saratoga triumph

On the eve of the Grade 1 Personal Ensign, a race that honors one of the greatest racehorses of all time and the Hall of Famer who was undefeated in her 13-race career, Dallas Stewart remembered a mighty fine mare he had the honor and pleasure of training.

Forever Unbridled was the horse of a lifetime and she made the 2017 edition of the Personal Ensign a race that Stewart, and many others, will never forget.

Charles Fipke’s homebred daughter of Unbridled’s Song and 2006 Kentucky Oaks winner Lemons Forever, also trained by Stewart, came into the Personal Ensign as the underdog to dual champion and nine-time Grade 1 winner Songbird.

In the lead-up to the race Stewart said, “It’s a champion we’re racing against, but we’ve got a very nice filly of our own, so we’ll see what happens.”

Forever Unbridled got the racing world buzzing not only by upending the short-priced Songbird, but also by the way she did it.

She lost her footing when the gate sprung open, banged into the gate, fell far behind the field, and then raced eight-wide while closing like the proverbial freight train under a hand ride by Joel Rosario to catch the front-running Songbird just before the wire and prevail by a neck.

“It was a great race and what a great ride Rosario gave her. He kept her around the middle of the track, and I was like ‘What is he doing?’ But he knew what he was doing. He didn’t get down there and look her (Songbird) in the eye. He just went by her at the last part. She was ready to run a big race,” Stewart recalled.

The Personal Ensign is a “win-and-you’re-in” for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, and in her next and final start of the year Forever Unbridled employed her usual tactic of coming from downtown to win the Distaff. At the same time, she enhanced her status as only the second mare to capture both the Personal Ensign and the Distaff in the same year and was the first since Beautiful Pleasure pulled off the double in 1999.

Forever Unbridled went undefeated that year and was voted the 2017 champion Older Mare. In her career, the four-time Grade 1 winner bankrolled $3,486,880 and her record was 18: 8-3-4. Moreover, she won on eight different tracks: Saratoga, Belmont Park (2016 Beldame (G1)), Aqueduct (2015 Comely (G2)), Churchill Downs, Del Mar, Oaklawn Park, Sam Houston, and Fair Grounds.

“She was just a really good racehorse. She was full of herself all the time. No matter how hard you trained her you couldn’t get her to... That’s the way the good ones are. They just love it. I mean they love it,” said Stewart.

He also trained her one-year older full sister Unbridled Forever, the winner of the 2015 Ballerina (G1) at the Spa. Sadly, Unbridled Forever died March 15 from complications of injuries suffered while foaling a Medaglia d’Oro colt.

Fipke is fond of breeding his mares to that stallion and Forever Unbridled, who was retired in 2018 after her fifth-place finish in the Dubai World Cup (G1), has one offspring to date. By Medaglia d’Oro, he is now an unraced 2-year-old.

“I think he’s still in light training. I hope he’ll be coming into my barn,” Stewart said.

Stewart is looking forward to closing weekend at the Spa where he will be represented in a pair of Grade 1 stakes, the $300,000 Spinaway for juvenile fillies and the $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup, which carries the bonus of being a “win-and-you’re-in” for the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar in November through the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series.

On Sept. 4, he’ll send out Chess Chief for the Estate of James Coleman, Jr. in the Jockey Club Gold Cup, which has been moved from its traditional fall date at Belmont Park. On the closing day of the meet Monday, in the seven-furlong Spinaway he’ll saddle Sequist, a 2-year-old filly he co-owns with West Point Thoroughbreds, Gervais Racing, Charles R. Pigg, and Andres Racing.

The Grade 2-winning Chess Chief last ran fourth in the Bert Allen at Colonial Downs July 19

“We ran him on the turf in Virginia and that didn’t come out real well,” said the trainer. “He’s had a pretty good year. He won the New Orleans Handicap (G2, on March 3), he ran good in the Alysheba (G2, finished third on April 30), the Stephen Foster (G2, finished fifth on June 26) was when Johnny (Velazquez) rode him and dropped his whip so that didn’t help, but he still finished really good,” said the trainer. “He’s doing really good since and training great.”

To prove that point, Stewart pointed to his most recent five-furlong breeze in 1:00.26 here on the dirt training track Aug. 21.

“He’s a strong horse. He’s an Into Mischief. He’s doing well. He’s 5 now and we work hard to keep him rolling all the time,” Stewart said. “Hopefully, we can get a big win in him. It’s a great race and it’s a Grade 1 and a win-and-you’re-in for the Classic, as everybody knows, so we’ll see. Luis Saez is going to ride him and we’re happy about that.”

Sequist made the trip to Virginia with her stablemate and fared better. The daughter of 2015 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and 2016 Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist made her sole start a success July 20 in a five-furlong test.

“I was impressed with her. She had a rough trip. She stumbled out of the gate and a horse took her out a little bit and then she was wide, but she did win. She really finished great. I really liked her race. If you watch the replay, she was pretty impressive, especially for her first time out,” said her trainer.

Since returning to the stable of Stewart, who trained her maternal grandfather Flanders Field for the prestigious but now disbanded Overbrook Farm, Sequist has thrived.

“She’s doing great. She’s had a couple of real good works and she’s got one more coming up on Sunday. It looks like she wants to run on. We’re looking forward to the Spinaway,” said Stewart, who gave the call to Junior Alvarado.