Churchill Downs: On Fire Baby slated to work for Personal Ensign at Saratoga

On Fire Baby is scheduled to breeze Saturday at Churchill and then once more before leaving for Saratoga to start in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign on Aug. 25.

Trainer Gary Hartlage said he is pleased with how On Fire Baby, a Grade 1 winner with $720,308 in earnings, has progressed since being hospitalized in mid-June after spiking a high fever.

“We really thought about running in the Gardenia, but this was the better option,” said Hartlage.

Another Grade 1 winner in training at Churchill, Tiz Miz Sue, also is under consideration for the Personal Ensign and is tentatively scheduled to work here the next two weekends, although trainer Steve Hobby seemed less certain Wednesday of making the race.

“I’ll have to see how these works go,” he said.

Tiz Miz Sue won the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps at Belmont in her last start and was supposed to run back in the Delaware Handicap last month but was turned out for a brief freshening. The 5-year-old mare has not worked since July 2.

◗ A $31,500 turf-sprint allowance serves as the nominal feature on an eight-race Friday card at Ellis, where first post is 12:50 p.m. Central. One race earlier, the 12-year-old mare Texas Gold Digger will make the 87th start of her career in a $4,000 claiming sprint.

◗ Jockey Ramon Vazquez has left the Kentucky circuit to ride at Remington Park in Oklahoma. Vazquez has made a circuit of Kentucky and Oaklawn Park since the fall of 2011.