Personal Ensign: The First Undefeated American Race Horse Since 1902
Personal Ensign was born on April 27th, 1984. Bred and ridden by Ogden Phipps, she was produced by a mating of Private Account, Phipps’ homebred stallion, and Grecian Banner. Personal Ensign’s full-sister was Personal Flag, who was another good race horse.
Due to producing two racing offspring, one of which finished her racing career undefeated, Grecian Banner was named “Kentucky Broodmare of the Year.”
When Personal Ensign was two years old in 1986, she began her racing career. Her jockey, Randy Romero, rode her for 12 of her 13 wins, and raced her when she won her first maiden race, along with the prominent Frizette Stakes race, which took place at Belmont
Park. A few days before the Breeders Cup in 1986, Personal Ensign suffered a fractured pastern bone, which cut short her two year career. The pastern bone is located right above the hoof of the horse, and most people thought that her racing career was over.
Dr. Lawrence Bramlage, one of the world’s most famous and respected veterinary surgeons in the world, inserted five screws into Personal Ensign’s left hind legs’ long pastern bone.
Less than a year later, Personal Ensign was back racing, taking four more wins, two of which were stake wins, including the famed Beldame Stakes. Personal Ensign won the 1¼ race twice, one in 1987 and again in 1988. In the beginning of her 1988 season, Personal
Ensign won all seven of her races, including the Maskette Stakes, Beldame Stakes, Shuvee Stakes, and Hempstead Stakes. She won the Hempstead Stakes by an amazing seven lengths! In the 1988 Breeder’s Cup, Personal Ensign defeated the Kentucky Derby Champion,
Winning Colors, by a nose, which is often recalled as “the most exciting finish in Breeder’s Cup history.”
Following the Breeder’s Cup in 1988, Personal Ensign retired as the first undefeated winner in American racing since 1902. Her major wins over her four year career ten major wins including the Rare Perfume Stakes, for $250,000, and the Beldame Stakes, for
$600,000. Personal Ensign ran in 13 races, and finished first in all of them, ending her career undefeated.
Personal Ensign went on to become one of the most significant broodmares of the 20th century. Her first foal, named Miner’s Mark, was a G1 winner. G1 stands for Group 1, and is the highest level of horse racing in many countries. In Japan, Canada,
and the United States, it stands for Grade 1. These races attract the very best of racing horses, which race for obscene amounts of cash, sometimes exceeding $10 million. Personal Ensign’s second foal was Our Emblem, who was also a G1 runner, who went on to
sire Kentucky Derby winner, War Emblem. Traditionally, Personal Ensign’s third foal, was also a G1 winner, but her best runner was her daughter, My Flag. She was sired by Easy Goer, who was a Hall of Fame champion, and went on to win G1 races four times. Personal
Ensign made $1.6 million in her career, while My Flag made just $100,000 less, at $1.5 million. Personal Ensign was named Kentucky Brood of the Year in 1996, just as her dam was, and just as My Flag would go on to be.
Sadly, Personal Ensign went on to die of natural causes on Thursday April 8, 2010 at her pasture in Paris, Kentucky. She lived to the ripe old age of 26.
Her legacy lives on, with her induction into the National Museum of Racing and also the Hall of Fame in 1993.
Blood-Horse magazine named Personal Ensign as number 46 on the list of the top 100 U.S. thoroughbred champions of the 20th century, while her foals live on today as racing champions, just as she was.
Another horse has a chance of becoming the first undefeated horse since Personal Ensign. Zenyatta is a six year old thoroughbred who has won 19 of her last 19 races, and, if she wins her 20th at the 2010 Breeder’s Cup World Championship, will
retire undefeated with 20 wins. The races started on November 5, 2010 and will conclude on November 6, 2010. Tune in!
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