Walter Wlodarczyk Photo

Raging Sea capsizes G1 Personal Ensign

by Christian Abdo

Alpha Delta Stables’ Kentucky homebred Raging Sea surged late to nail reigning Champion Older Dirt Female Idiomatic at the wire and deny her a repeat victory in Friday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Personal Ensign, a nine-furlong test for older fillies and mares, at Saratoga Race Course.

Trained by four-time Eclipse Award-winner Chad Brown, the 4-year-old Curlin chestnut earned her first career Grade 1 after a last-out closing score in the Grade 2 Shuvee at the same distance on July 21 here. It was also the first Personal Ensign triumph for Brown.

“Raging Sea – it was her day today, and she ran down a real Champion. I’m just so proud of her, so happy for Mr. John Clay, who bred this horse and actually RNA’d her as a yearling,” said Brown. “He believed in her, sent her in to us, and she’s really had a great career. Very rarely has she disappointed us.”

Piloted by Flavien Prat, Raging Sea broke alertly from post 3 as speedy stablemate Randomized stumbled at the start but recovered quickly to vie for command with the 4-5 favorite Idiomatic through an opening quarter-mile in 23.28 seconds on the fast main track.

Raging Sea settled into fourth position in the five-horse field, many lengths off of the speed duel between the Florent Geroux-piloted Idiomatic and Randomized, the one-two finishers of November’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita Park and vice versa in the local Grade 1 Ogden Phipps presented by Ford on June 8.

Down the backside, the field became very strung out behind the pacesetting duo. Raging Sea was eight lengths behind Xigera, who trailed the front pair by another three lengths after a half-mile in 46.66.

“She jumped well. It felt like everyone was committed to go,” said Prat of his distant early positioning. “I didn't want to be too far back where she lost interest in the race.”

Entering the far turn through three-quarters in 1:10.53, Idiomatic put away Randomized and quickly established a few-lengths advantage. At the top of the lane, the Champ, free of her familiar rival, looked to be well on her way to back-to-back Personal Ensigns, but Raging Sea was coming alive under Prat.

“To be honest on the form, I knew I was going to make a run. I didn't know if they could hold me off or not,” said Prat, who earned his 12th stakes win of the meet, closing on the record of 15 shared by Irad Ortiz, Jr. [2022], plus Hall of Famers Joel Rosario [2022] and John Velazquez [2005]. “It felt like [Idiomatic] was still going well from where I was, it was just a matter of if I could get there on time.”

At the stretch call, Idiomatic held four lengths of insurance, but the mile in 1:36.13 was beginning to take its toll, as Raging Sea was closing resolutely down the center of the course.

Idiomatic fought on gamely and angled out to meet her rival in deep stretch, but Raging Sea took her by storm in the final sixteenth to post a head victory in a final time of 1:49.14.

It was 10 1/4-lengths back to Soul of an Angel who closed from last-to-third, with Randomized rounding out the superfecta. Xigera completed the order of finish.

Brown said a potential next start for Raging Sea, who won the Grade 3 Doubledogdare in April at Keeneland, is the Grade 1 Spinster on October 6 at the Lexington oval.

“I would say Raging Sea has done particularly well at Keeneland, and I’d say I would run her next in the Spinster,” Brown said.

Brad Cox, dual Eclipse Award-winning trainer of Idiomatic, said it was equally as tough of a result as when missing by a head to Randomized in the Ogden Phipps.

“I think she was the best horse again. That’s two starts here she did all the running. She ran a winning race. Last time it was more of a trip, and this time it was more of a pace thing. But, she ran well,” said Cox. “It was unfortunate [Idiomatic] didn’t get the job done. Once again, the best horse, in my opinion, but didn’t really get there.”

Geroux said that Idiomatic was unlucky after doing the hard work on the front end.

"It's the second time this year I feel like we have the best horse, but we don't have the outcome we want,” said Geroux. “I thought she was handling it [the pace] fine but looking at it now, it looked like maybe we went a little bit too fast. I thought we had Randomized measured but the other filly, Raging Sea, was able to run me down.”

Geroux added that Idiomatic still has his full support as she searches for another Eclipse Award.

“I think she's amazing. She's the Champion and we can agree to disagree, but I still feel like she's the best filly, definitely, on the East Coast,” said Geroux.

Brown, the meet's leading trainer with 29 wins, hopes to keep the success going on tomorrow’s Grade 1 DraftKings Travers Day card. He holds Sierra Leone and Unmatched Wisdom in that historic race.

“We’ve had a good meet really from start to finish. We’ve had a variety of turf and dirt, everything. My team’s done a fabulous job. We’re lucky we have a diverse group of horses,” said Brown. “Certainly, on the eve of the Travers to have a race like this on the dirt and good weather ahead of us tomorrow, it sure feels like we’re in a good spot.”

Out of Storm Cat mare Stormy Welcome, Raging Sea is a half-sister to the multiple stakes-placed Welcoming with her third dam being the multiple graded stakes-winning Reine-de-Course mare Weekend Surprise, who produced Hall of Famer and breed-shaping stallion A.P. Indy.

She banked $275,000 in victory while improving her record to 11-6-1-1 and returning $14.40 for a $2 win bet.

Live racing resumes Saturday with a lucrative 14-race card headlined by the Grade 1, $1.25 million DraftKings Travers in Race 13. Also scheduled are two Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” qualifiers with the Grade 1, $750,000 Resorts World Casino Sword Dancer [Turf] in Race 9 and the Grade 1, $500,000 Ballerina [Filly and Mare Sprint] in Race 10; as well as the Grade 1, $500,000 Forego in Race 11 and the Grade 1, $500,000 H. Allen Jerkens Memorial in Race 12. First post is 11:20 a.m., with gates opening to the public at 9 a.m.

An expanded edition of Saratoga Live will begin at 11:30 a.m. on FS2 with continuing coverage on FS1 at 1:30 p.m. FOX Saratoga Saturday will present live coverage of the DraftKings Travers Day stakes action plus analysis in a special broadcast on FOX beginning at 3 p.m. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule/.

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