Fox Hill Farms' two-time champion Songbird (Medaglia d'Oro) will make her next start in Saratoga's GI Personal Ensign S. on GI Travers S. day, Aug. 26, Rick Porter of Fox Hill Farms said Sunday. The 4-year-old filly breezed five furlongs in 1:01 flat Sunday morning at her summer base at Del Mar.
“We are definitely running,” said owner Rick Porter by phone. “I want to run at Saratoga. It's my favorite track to run at, and I think it's the right race for her anyway–the timing is right, the purse is right, and she's run well there.”
The Jerry Hollendorfer trainee notched back-to-back wins at the Spa last summer in the GI Coaching Club American Oaks and the GI Alabama S. Songbird will likely meet a salty group of rivals in the Personal Ensign.
“We're going to hook Forever Unbridled, Carina Mia, and whoever else is coming, so it's not going to be a pushover race,” Porter said. “But according to Mr. Hollendorfer, she couldn't be doing any better. She worked in 1:01 and they gave her a 'breezing,' which is pretty hard to get at Del Mar. Jerry said she went around the track like she was just jogging around.”
Songbird has won 13 of her 14 starts with earnings over $4.5 million. Her lone defeat came by a nose behind Beholder (Henny Hughes) in last November's GI Breeders' Cup Distaff, but the filly has bounced back with a pair of wins at the highest level in the June 10 GI Ogden Phipps S. and July 15 GI Delaware H.
“I asked Jerry the other day to compare her to how she was a week or two before the Breeders' Cup and he said, 'I got to tell you, Rick, she is better than she's ever been These two races have just got her in the position where she couldn't be more fit,'” said Porter. “If it weren't for that whisker, she'd be undefeated, but she's still something special.”
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