Ask The Moon Keeps Going in Personal Ensign

9/3/2011 5:47 PM  | horseracingnation.com
I'm a fan
My Favorite
Ask The Moon, jockey Luis Saez up, wins the Ruffian Invitational Handicap on Ruffian Handicap Day at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Spring, New York on July 31, 2011 Proving her score at 18-1 in the Ruffian Invitational Handicap on July 31 was no fluke, 6-year-old mare Ask the Moon notched her second Grade 1 victory of the Saratoga meet, leading from start to finish Saturday in the $300,000 Personal Ensign Invitational.

This time around, in a field of six, Ask the Moon went off as the 9-5 favorite under jockey Javier Castellano and galloped through an opening quarter-mile in a quick 23.43 seconds and a half in 47.37 before repelling her lone challenge and sailing to victory by 2 ¾ lengths.

Ask the Moon, claimed June 15 for $75,000 by Farnsworth Stables, drifted out toward the center of the track at the three-sixteenths pole but never was threatened in her first try in a 1 ¼-mile race. A tenacious Pachattack held second, a head in front of Tiz Miz Sue.

Ask the Moon paid $5.90 for a $2 win bet and won in a final time of 2:04.21.

Ask the Moon, a Maryland-bred daughter of Malibu Moon out of the Valid Appeal mare Always Asking, has breeding that suggests the Personal Ensign distance might have been beyond her scope.

"Distance was definitely a worry, but she's all heart down the lane," said Heather Irion, Wolfson's assistant, who saddled Ask the Moon. "She is all class, this horse."

Ask the Moon returned to her home base of Monmouth Park after winning the Ruffian before coming back to Saratoga Race Course for the Personal Ensign.

"She has been here for about a week due to the hurricane," Irion said. "She obviously loves this track. She's been amazing. We never dreamed she would do this when we claimed her. Marty loved her. He told me when he sent her over, 'This filly is really special to me.' But I think she has blown us away with two Grade 1 wins right off the bat."

The Personal Ensign featured three runners from the Ruffian - Ask the Moon, Tiz Miz Sue and Super Espresso - and newcomers who were largely devoid of the necessary early speed to challenge for the lead.

At the start, Ask the Moon went right out and made the pace, while jockey Jose Lezcano pulled Acronym back from his inside post into a stalking position and Pachattack, trying the dirt for the first time, set up on the outside.

The two stalkers ran in tandem behind the leader as the rest of the field strung out on the backside. On the turn for home, Acronym fell back and Pachattack was the only horse to mount a serious challenge.

Castellano, aboard Ask the Moon for the second time after the Ruffian, was impressed.

"She improved," he said. "People said that maybe she got lucky last time. They let her go on the lead and stole the race. I don't think so. She improved a lot, she's a nice filly, she's won two Grade 1s, and I'm glad to get on the filly."

Protesting, Super Espresso and Acronym completed the order of finish.

With the $180,000 first-place purse, Ask the Moon increased her lifetime earnings to $713,640. She has now won 10 of 32 starts.

Irion said Wolfson, who watched the race from his base at Calder Race Course, had no plans just yet for Ask the Moon. The trainer has a strong record claiming hard-knocking older horses and stepping them up successfully into the graded ranks.

"Marty, he's good at this," Irion said. "He's good at reviving these old horses. I'm sure [he'll] have another genius plan in her future."


 

 

What the Nation is saying about Ask The Moon Keeps Going in Personal Ensign...

I would love for Marty Wolfson to get hold of Rapid Redux to see if he couldn't rise in class...RR certainly has a very nice pedigree that suggests he should have been able to rise above the claiming ranks.
The 6 furlong split was faster than the Woodward, so either she went too fast or they were going slow early in the Woodward, depending on how you view the races.
Shades of John Henry and Seabiscuit! Ask The Moon wasn't "awful", but she's been laboring in relative obscurity for quite a while, then all of a sudden, she gets claimed and managed properly, and she has burst onto the racing scene with a huge bang. Two Grade 2 races back to back! Wow! How exciting for the sport when this happens and we get to witness it. It's one thing to have been born with a "silver spoon" and handled with kid gloves, but it's another when a classy horse has been buried in the "weeds" so to speak and then arrives to blow the doors off as she has done at Saratoga! And, once again, it's the fillies who provide the excitement this year!! Will be fun to watch as she continues her revived career.
I thought she was going to stop she was drifting out so badly
-->

Related Pages

Related Stories

Top Stories

 

2012 Kentucky Derby | Report this Page |  I'll Have Another  |  Belmont Stakes 2012  |  Terms & Conditions, Privacy Policy |   |   | FB Share
Wiki pages: Horses |  People |  Tracks |  Stakes |  Stables |  Horse Racing Games |  Dubai Race Night  | Triple Crown winners  |  Pace Pals