GINGER PUNCH BY A NOSE IN PERSONAL ENSIGN
Stronach Stable’s champion 5-year-old mare Ginger Punch won a head bob with Robert S. Evans’ Lemon Drop Mom to take Friday’s Grade 1, $400,000 Personal Ensign by the shortest of noses at Saratoga. Under jockey Rafael Bejarano, the Florida-bred daughter of Awesome Again covered the 1 ¼ miles on a fast main track in 2:03.37. Unbridled Belle finished third.
It was the fourth consecutive victory and 12th from 20 starts for the Bobby Frankel-trained, Frank Stronach homebred. The $240,000 winner’s share increased Ginger Punch’s earnings to $2,945,603.
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Ginger Punch broke well from post five in the field of six fillies and mares, then was taken back by Bejarano, racing in fourth as Golden Velvet and Unbridled Belle vollied on the lead through fractions of :24.62, :49.85, and 1:13.66 for the opening six furlongs. Ginger Punch was boxed in down the backstretch, but Bejarano slipped her out from the rail and put her into a drive as the field entered the far turn.
Lemon Drop Mom shot through an opening on the rail and moved to a short lead at the top of the stretch, the mile in 1:37.87, while Ginger Punch rallied four wide into the lane. Those two battled the length of the stretch, with Lemon Drop Mom appearing to have a narrow edge until the final stride, when Bejarano got Ginger Punch’s nose in front by inches.
The winner paid $3.30 to win. This was Ginger Punch’s third consecutive Grade 1 victory in New York, following her 1 ¼-length win in the Go for Wand Handicap at Saratoga July 26 and the Ogden Phipps Handicap at Belmont Park June 14, a race she won by 7 ¾ lengths. She carried 122 pounds in the Personal Ensign, giving six pounds to Lemon Drop Mom, a 4-year-old filly by Lemon Drop Kid who was coming off a second-place finish July 13 in the Grade 2 Delaware Handicap at the same 1 ¼-mile distance.
Ginger Punch won five of eight starts last year, including the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Monmouth Park, which clinched her Eclipse Award as outstanding older filly or mare.
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Tags: bobby frankel, Frank Stronach, ginger punch, Horse Racing, lemon drop mom, Paulick Report, personal ensign, rafael bejarano, Ray Paulick, saratoga, stronach stable, unbridled belle
