Songbird to Take on Personal Ensign Field

Fox Hill Farm's Songbird will make a much anticipated return to Saratoga Race Course in the $700,000 Personal Ensign Stakes (G1) on Travers Day Aug. 26, as announced by Fox Hill Farm on social media following the 4-year-old Medaglia d'Oro  filly's five-furlong breeze in 1:01 at Del Mar Aug. 13.

"We are definitely running," said owner Rick Porter. "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."

Trained by Hall of Fame conditioner Jerry Hollendorfer, the two-time Eclipse Award winner posted back-to-back victories at the Spa last summer with a 5 1/4-length win in the Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) at the Personal Ensign's 1 1/8-mile distance and a seven-length romp in the 1 1/4-mile Alabama Stakes (G1).

This time around, Songbird could face a formidable cast of older fillies and mares, including top Personal Ensign nominees Forever Unbridled, exiting a victory in the Fleur de Lis Handicap (G2), and recent Shine Again Stakes winner Carina Mia, among others.

"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 (tag),' which is pretty hard to get at Del Mar. Jerry said she went around the track like she was just jogging."

Songbird owns 13 wins from 14 career starts for earnings in excess of $4.5 million. She was handed the only defeat of her career by three-time champion Beholder by a nose in last year's Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) at Santa Anita Park and returned this season with a pair of grade 1 wins in the Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1) June 10 at Belmont Park and, most recently, a one-length win in the Delaware Handicap (G1) July 15.

"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,'" Porter said. "If it weren't for that whisker, she'd be undefeated, but she's still something special."