Point of Honor stays home to run in Personal Ensign

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After briefly flirting with the idea of a cross-country trip for Sunday’s Grade 1 Clement Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar, the connections of Point of Honor ultimately opted to stay home for Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Personal Ensign Stakes at Saratoga.

That means a date with Midnight Bisou, the top older female in training who is coming off an 8 1/4-length victory in the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis Stakes at Churchill Downs on June 27 and who won the Personal Ensign here last summer.

Point of Honor has three seconds and a third in four tries at winning a Grade 1 race. Trainer George Weaver said he and the owners, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Stetson Racing, are trying to get Point of Honor a Grade 1 victory this year. The choices this weekend were facing Midnight Bisou in the Personal Ensign or Ce Ce, Hard Not to Love, and Ollie’s Candy in the Clement Hirsch.

“There really is one horse to beat here and there are three or four solid fillies that might not be as good as Midnight Bisou but they’re good fillies nonetheless,” Weaver said. “Then you factor in the travel. Going east to west, it’s not always the easiest thing.

“Maybe we’ll be second to Bisou on the day, but I’m a firm believer that you really don’t want to duck one horse.”

Last summer at Saratoga, Point of Honor finished second in both the Coaching Club American Oaks and Alabama. This year, she was third behind Ce Ce and Ollie’s Candy in the Apple Blossom at Oaklawn and second, beaten a nose by She’s a Julie, in the Ogden Phipps at Belmont.

“There’s no shame in how we’ve been running and the record we have,” Weaver said. “We’re going to take our best shot.”

The Personal Ensign, run at 1 1/8 miles, offers a berth into the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Keeneland on Nov. 7.

The Personal Ensign field, from the rail out, is Abounding Joy, Motion Emotion, Midnight Bisou, Vexatious, Bossy Bride, and Point of Honor.

Maker vs. Maker

Channel Maker, who deadheated for win in the 2018 Bowling Green, will take on a pair of runners from the barn of Mike Maker in Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Bowling Green Stakes at 1 3/8 miles at Saratoga.

Channel Maker, trained by Bill Mott, hasn’t won since taking the Grade 1 Man o’ War at Belmont in May 2019. He is coming out of a fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 Manhattan, beaten just one length by winner Instilled Regard.

Maker, who won two turf stakes last week, sends out Cross Border, who won the Lubash on July 23, and Marzo, 0 for 4 since winning the Grade 3 Sycamore at Keeneland in October.

Sadler’s Joy will be making his fourth straight appearance in the Bowling Green, having finished third in 2017 and 2018 and sixth in 2019.

Dot Matrix, Highland Sky, and Pillar Mountain complete the field.

Alex looks for rebound

Mischevious Alex finished fourth to No Parole in the Grade 1 Woody Stephens at Belmont Park on June 20. It took more than two weeks, but trainer John Servis may have found a reason for the poor performance.

A few days after Mischevious

Alex had his first breeze back, Servis’s blacksmith cut out two bruises from the frogs, or the bottom of the horse’s front feet.

Since then, Mischevious Alex has been training much better and Servis is hoping for a return to form in Saturday’s Grade 1, $300,000 H. Allen Jerkens Stakes at Saratoga.

The Jerkens drew a wellmatched field of 11. Mischevious Alex drew post 5.

“I have to throw his last race out,” Servis said. “Obviously he didn’t run his race with the foot issue that he had. He’s going to have to step it up. That No Parole is a very nice horse and there are some other nice horses in there.”

Prior to the Woody Stephens, Mischevious Alex had won three consecutive races, including the Grade 3 Swale at Gulfstream by seven lengths and the Grade 3 Gotham at Aqueduct by two. Irad Ortiz Jr. rode Mischevious Alex in the Swale, and Kendrick Carmouche rode him in the Gotham and Woody Stephens. Ortiz will be back aboard on Saturday.

“Kendrick didn’t do anything wrong,” Servis said. “If you got a shot to get Irad you got to get him. By no means am I putting any blame on Kendrick.”

The Jerkens field, from the rail out, is Hopeful Treasure, Eight Rings, Sonneman, Echo Town, Mischevious Alex, No Parole, Shoplifted, Three Technique, Liam’s Pride, Captain Bombastic, and Tap It to Win.

Shivaree an early arrival

Shivaree, who ran second to Tiz the Law in the Grade 1 Florida Derby in March, arrived here from South Florida on Tuesday and is being pointed to a rematch with Tiz the Law in the Grade 1, $1 million Runhappy Travers Stakes on Aug. 8.

Since his runner-up finish in the Florida Derby, Shivaree has run third in an allowance race to Sole Volante at Gulfstream Park in June and 11th in the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland on July 11. He was part of the early pace breaking from the rail in the Blue Grass.

“He was going fast beside two very talented horses and could never get a breather,” trainer Ralph Nicks said. “He couldn’t get into any sort of a rhythm like he did in the Florida Derby.”

Nicks said he sent Shivaree to New York early in order to get a workout over the main track. Nicks said Junior Alvarado will ride Shivaree in the Travers.

– David Grening

Plans for Ward juveniles

Trainer Wesley Ward is taking some of his talented 2-year-olds to Europe in the weeks ahead, but not all of them. He is leaving two behind to run at Saratoga, Roderick and Outadore, both impressive debut winners.

Roderick, a son of Into Mischief, ran to his 2-5 backing, drawing away to an 8 1/4-length victory going five furlongs on the main track at Belmont Park on June 21. Outadore prompted the early running before pulling away through the final furlong over the grass here on Sunday. Breeze Easy LLC owns both Roderick and Outadore.

Ward said he’s looking at the Grade 2 Saratoga Special on Aug. 7 and the Grade 1 Runhappy Hopeful on Sept. 7 for Roderick. Ward said he thinks Outadore is as good on dirt as he is on turf.

“We were kind of late getting him started because of shins, and I thought the turf would be a lot easier on him the first time,” Ward said. “But he could also show up in the Hopeful.”

– Mike Welsch