Fully Subscribed looks to secure first G1 win in $500K Personal Ensign
Klaravich Stables’ Fully Subscribed will try and double up on local graded wins in Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Personal Ensign, at Saratoga Race Course. The nine-furlong route for fillies and mares 3-year-olds and up offers a “Win and You’re In” berth to the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff in October at Keeneland.
Trained by five-time Eclipse Award-winner Chad Brown, Fully Subscribed [post 2, Flavien Prat] overhauled returning rival Scottish Lassie to capture the nine-furlong Grade 2 Shuvee last out here on July 24.
There, Fully Subscribed traveled in fourth position as the reopposing Snowyte marked the opening half-mile in 47.98 seconds while under pressure from Scottish Lassie. At the stretch call, Scottish Lassie had opened up a three-length margin and looked to be on her way to victory, but a wide-running Fully Subscribed gathered momentum with powerful strides and arrived in the final jumps to secure the half-length score in a final time of 1:49.46. The winning effort earned a career-best 98 Beyer Speed Figure.
"The way she went and reeled in a nice filly showed a lot of heart, determination, ability and maturity. I'd say she's finding her best stride now,” Brown said.
The 4-year-old Tiz the Law chestnut boasts a perfect in-the-money record of 8-4-3-1 that includes scores at nine furlongs in the Grade 2 Mother Goose in November and the Grade 3 Comely in December at Aqueduct Racetrack.
She has worked back three times over the Oklahoma dirt training track, including a half-mile breeze in 48.40 August 22 as she looks to secure her first top-flight win in her third attempt after runner-up efforts this year to Shred the Gnar in the La Troienne in May at Churchill Downs and to Nitrogen in the Ogden Phipps presented by Ford in June here.
"She continues to work very well and continues to look well,” Brown said.
Bred in Kentucky by Payson Stud, the $300,000 purchase at the 2024 OBS Spring Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, is out of the winning Candy Ride mare Sweetbaby. Her second dam is Grade 1-winning millionaire Rutherienne, who won eight graded stakes in her 11-for-24 career.
Dual Grade 1-winner Scottish Lassie [post 4, Jose Ortiz] sports a 5-2-1-2 ledger at the Spa, including a frontrunning top-flight score in the nine-furlong Coaching Club American Oaks last summer where she bested the reigning Champion 2-Year-Old Filly Immersive by 15 1/2-lengths.
Trained and co-owned by Jorge Abreu with Sportsmen Stable, Parkland Thoroughbreds, Photos Finish, and Corms Racing, the 4-year-old McKinzie dark bay graduated in style with a nine-length romp in the Grade 1 Frizette in October 2024 at Belmont at the Big A.
Last year, she was third in the Grade 1 DraftKings Acorn here over sloppy and sealed footing ahead of her CCA Oaks coup. Her sophomore season closed with a 2 1/4-length fourth in the Grade 1 Cotillion at Parx.
Scottish Lassie returned to action in June with an 8 1/2-length win in a seven-furlong optional-claimer during the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga ahead of her runner-up try last out in the Shuvee.
Abreu said he doesn’t believe his filly made the front too early last out under returning rider Jose Ortiz.
"I don't think so, but it's hard to say. She can run forwardly placed and she can come from out of it,” Abreu said. “I think Jose gave her a perfect ride and she probably didn't feel that horse coming on the outside of her until it was a little too late. I think she needed that race.”
Scottish Lassie has worked back three times, including a half-mile breeze in 48.30 Sunday over the Oklahoma dirt training track with Ortiz aboard.
"She worked pretty nice and easy with Jose on the training track, by herself and no stress. Jose was pretty pleased with the way she did it. She's doing as good as she can be doing right now,” Abreu said.
Abreu said he will let Ortiz, the Spa’s current leading rider, work out a winning trip for the barn’s beloved filly.
“We'll play the break but it's up to Jose,” Abreu said. “She means everything to us. She’s the only Grade 1 horse we have in the barn. It's the reason you get up early in the morning.”
Bred in Kentucky by Winchester Farm, Scottish Lassie is out of the winning Bodemeister mare Bodebabe, a half-sister to stakes-winner Windmill and stakes-placed Ignitis. Her stakes-placed third dam, Scarlet Tango, produced Grade 1-winners Tara’s Tango and Visionaire.
Delta Squad Racing, Michael Dubb and Madaket Stables’ Margie’s Intention [post 1, Manny Franco] made the grade in her first start for dual Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox, stalking and pouncing to a three-quarter length win in the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan last May at Pimlico Race Course.
The 4-year-old Louisiana-bred Honor A. P. dark bay made her first five starts at Fair Grounds for trainer Brendan Walsh, winning twice and placing in a pair of state-bred stakes there.
Margie’s Intention exited her Black-Eyed Susan score to hit the board in four straight stakes – including a third in the Grade 1 Alabama here last summer – before returning to the winner’s circle last out with a 2 3/4-length victory in the Listed Allaire DuPont on May 15 at Laurel Park.
“She likes the two-turn races. The mile and an eighth suits her well,” Cox said. “She had a little bit of minor setback after the race down at Laurel, but she’s since trained well at Churchill, and we need to run. We’ll see, she’s honest.”
Margie’s Intention, out of the Into Mischief mare Playful Dancer, was acquired for $1.3 million by her current connections in November at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Mixed Sale. Her second dam, the stakes-winning Seeking Daylight mare Dance Hall Days, is a half-sister to 2009 Grade 1 Prioress-winner Cat Moves.
Also entered are multiple graded stakes-placed Nerazurri [post 3, Luis Saez], a last-out third in the Grade 2 Molly Pitcher for dual Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse; Speed Shopper [post 5, John Velazquez], a dual Grade 3-winner on turf for trainer Will Walden; and Grade 1-placed Snowyte [post 6, Junior Alvarado], who enters from the aforementioned third-place effort in the Shuvee for trainer Danny Gargan.
The Personal Ensign is slated as Race 9 on Saturday’s blockbuster 14-race program headlined by the Grade 1, $1.25 million DraftKings Travers in Race 13. In addition to the 157th renewal of the Travers, the program will include the Grade 1, $500,000 Forego [Race 11], the Grade 1, $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial [Race 8], the Grade 1, $500,000 Resorts World Casino Ballerina [Race 12], and the Grade 2, $400,000 Lake Placid [Race 10].
The Forego [Dirt Mile] and Resorts World Casino Ballerina [Filly and Mare Sprint] provide "Win and You're In" berths to the 2026 Breeders' Cup World Championships, which will be held October 30-31 at Keeneland Race Course.
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