Bauer Hoping Xigera Can Be Personal Ensign Spoiler

The main attraction of the Aug. 23 Personal Ensign Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course promises to be the showdown between the champion mare Idiomatic  and Randomized .

The two rivals first faced off last year in the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) when Juddmonte's homebred Idiomatic held off Randomized by a half-length and cemented her claim to the Eclipse Award as the champion older dirt female.

They met again June 8 at the Spa when Klaravich Stables' Randomized gained some revenge when she grabbed the early lead and held on by a head after an exciting stretch run to take the Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1).

The 1 1/8-mile Personal Ensign will serve as a rubber match and could have big ramifications on the quest for the 2024 division crown. 

Yet as much as they standout in a five-horse field of fillies and mares, the race will take place at Saratoga where a legion of favorites and champions have gone down to defeat.

One of the fillies with the capability of playing a spoiler Friday is Rigney Racing's Xigera , who figures to be the longshot in the betting but could return to top form at an opportune time.

"We came up here with the intention of giving her a lot of time to get ready for the race and Saratoga has done its job," trainer Phil Bauer said. "She loves it up here. In her gallop (Aug. 21) she was bucking the first eighth of a mile. You know she's a happy horse. There's some good horses in there but on her best day she's capable of butting heads with them."

After some success on turf to start 2023, a switch back to dirt elevated the then 3-year-old daughter of Nyquist   to new heights. After winning an allowance race and the Tepin Stakes on turf, Bauer revised his game plan following a sixth in the Saratoga Oaks Invitational Stakes (G3T). He put Xigera in the Seneca Overnight Stakes on dirt and she won by 6 1/4 lengths. She followed that up with a 3 1/2-length score in the Mother Goose Stakes (G2) at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Bought for $190,000 from the Lisa and Tim Turney consignment at the 2021 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, she closed out her sophomore year with a highly promising 6 1/2-length win in the Falls City Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs.

Bred by Cedar Hill in Kentucky out of the Black Tie Affair mare Argent Affair, she began her 4-year-old campaign as the 2-1 second choice to Idiomatic in the La Troienne Stakes (G1) but finished a dull fifth on a sloppy track, losing by 39 1/4 lengths.

"You look at the race in the La Troienne and it looks horrendous, but she didn't like the mud and (jockey Julien Leparoux) took care of her and brought her home," said Bauer, a Louisville, Ky., native who started training in 2013. "I was surprised she disliked it with her pedigree and athleticism. I thought she would just skip over it, but she didn't."

She was an improved second to Scylla   in the Shawnee Stakes (G3) then had a wide, bumpy trip in the June 29 Fleur de Lis Stakes (G2) when she finished fifth.

"It's been a disappointing year. I don't think it's fair to say a filly has a disappointing year when she places in a graded stakes, but it's different when you consider the expectations we had coming into this year," Bauer said about the winner of six of 13 starts and $914,921 earner.  "We thought this year was really going to be exciting and it's been really frustrating. But we should get a true reading of where she is in this race. If she doesn't get back to where she was last year, that's OK. We can find races without horses like the ones in here.

"But the Shawnee showed us she wants to do it and everything in the morning has been positive."

Another point in Xigera's favor is that Bauer is enjoying a red-hot Saratoga meet with five wins and two seconds from 11 starts through Aug. 21.

"We're having a lot of fun up here and we've been fortunate that a lot of the horses we put on the van have lived up to their expectations," said the Kentucky-based Bauer who is winning at a 23% clip this year. "Warrior Johny was a nice surprise to start the meet (winning an opening-day allowance race) and then the beat continued. I hope it continues through this weekend."