Point of Honor stays home for Personal Ensign

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After briefly flirting with the idea of a cross-country trip for Sunday’s Grade 1 Clement Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar, the connections of Point of Honor ultimately opted to stay home for Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Personal Ensign Stakes at Saratoga.

That means a date with Midnight Bisou, the top older female in training who is coming off an 8 1/4 length victory in the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis Stakes at Churchill Downs on June 27 and who won the Personal Ensign here last summer.

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Point of Honor has three seconds and a third in four tries at winning a Grade 1 race. Trainer George Weaver said he and the owners, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Stetson Racing, are trying to get Point of Honor a Grade 1 victory this year. The choices this weekend were facing Midnight Bisou in the Personal Ensign or Ce Ce, Hard Not to Love, and Ollie’s Candy in the Clement Hirsch.

“There really is one horse to beat here and there are three or four solid fillies that might not be as good as Midnight Bisou but they’re good fillies nonetheless,” Weaver said. “Then you factor in the travel. Going East to West it’s not always the easiest thing.

“Maybe we’ll be second to Bisou on the day, but I’m a firm believer that you really don’t want to duck one horse.”

Last summer at Saratoga, Point of Honor finished second in both the Coaching Club American Oaks and Alabama. This year, she was third behind Ce Ce and Ollie’s Candy in the Apple Blossom at Oaklawn and second, beaten a nose by She’s a Julie, in the Ogden Phipps at Belmont.

“There’s no shame in how we’ve been running and the record we have,” Weaver said. “We’re going to take our best shot.”

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The Personal Ensign, run at 1 1/8 miles, offers a berth into the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Keeneland on Nov. 7.

The Personal Ensign field, from the rail out, is Abounding Joy, Motion Emotion, Midnight Bisou, Vexatious, Bossy Bride, and Point of Honor.