Breeders' Cup Legends: Storm Flag Flying

Storm Flag Flying (inside) defeats Composure in the 2002 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies to become the third generation of her family to win the race. (Photo by HorsePhotos)
Breeders' Cup winners and year-end champions are usually recognizable names, and Storm Flag Flying is no different. But even if she didn't have those accolades, her catalog page would still stand out - her first and second dams also brought home Breeders' Cup trophies.
Storm Flag Flying won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies in 2002 to become the third generation of her female family to win a Breeders’ Cup race. Her dam My Flag won the 1995 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and her second dam, the great Personal Ensign, won the 1988 Breeders’ Cup Distaff to cap a perfect 13-for-13 career. All three were bred and raced by the Phipps family and trained by Shug McGaughey. When Storm Flag Flying was born at Claiborne Farm in 2000 there just might have been a silver spoon in her mouth.
But unlike some privileged youngsters, the daughter of Storm Cat lived up to the high expectations. An earner of $1,951,828, Storm Flag Flying finished out of the money just once in her career, in a race that she was injured in. She would follow up her Juvenile Fillies win with a runner-up effort in the Distaff to multiple champion Ashado two years later.
Storm Flag Flying ran greenly when debuting a winner at Saratoga. Though she still hadn’t learned to run in a straight line, she managed to win the Grade 1 Matron Stakes at Saratoga in her next start by a whopping 12 ¾ lengths. Storm Flag Flying then won the Frizette Stakes by two lengths over Santa Catarina, who was in turn 11 ¼ lengths ahead of the third-place finisher, sending her to the Breeders’ Cup a strong favorite to carry on the family tradition.
In the 2002 Breeders’ Cup, hosted by Arlington Park, Storm Flag Flying earned her championship and showed off her grit. The filly sat just off the pacesetter in the 1 1/8-mile race before seizing the lead at the top of the lane. She looked beaten when she was headed by Composure in mid-stretch, but Storm Flag Flying was a game filly and re-broke, digging in to win by a half-length and secure champion 2-year-old filly honors.
“It's a case of the bloodlines really jumping out,'' said McGaughey of the remarkable effort in an interview with The New York Times. ''That's what gives them the class to do something like that.'' 
2002 BREEDERS’ CUP JUVENILE FILLIES

Storm Flag Flying didn’t run again until April of her sophomore season where she finished a distant second in the Comely Stakes. She reappeared two months later in the Acorn but wasn’t the same filly, coming up empty and finishing sixth of seven. A deep muscle bruise in her right hind leg was soon discovered and Storm Flag Flying was sidelined for the remainder of 2003.
She made her 4-year-old bow the next February, winning an allowance race at Gulfstream Park.  After a third-place effort in the Distaff Breeders’ Cup Handicap Storm Flag Flying tallied her first stakes win in nearly 19 months when she captured the Shuvee Handicap in April. She then finished second in the Ogden Phipps and third in the Go for Wand before winning the namesake race of her granddam, the Grade 1 Personal Ensign. It came down to a battle of champions in the race when Storm Flag Flying got to champion Azeri at the top of the lane.
“To come back and beat Azeri in a race like this today, I can't say I envisioned it,'' McGaughey told The New York Times. “When we came to Azeri at the quarter pole, I thought we had her, but we didn't. [Storm Flag Flying] had to battle hard to get by her today.''
The 2004 Breeders’ Cup came on a beautiful day at Lone Star Park, with clear skies and a high of 79 degrees. The ultra-consistent Storm Flag Flying was a top contender in the Distaff but she’d have to topple future Hall of Famer Ashado as well as fellow veteran Society Selection if she hoped to win.
Storm Flag Flying was content to lope along in the back of the pack in the early stages and as the field turned for home she and jockey Jerry Bailey started to advance. In early stretch the filly was stuck behind a wall of horses. An opening appeared, and the duo dove through it. Storm Flag Flying was indeed flying in the final yards, but Ashado had a head start and Storm Flag Flying fell short, finishing a length and a quarter behind the winner. 
2004 BREEDERS’ CUP DISTAFF

Following the Breeders’ Cup the Phippses retired Storm Flag Flying to live alongside her dam as a broodmare at Claiborne Farm. She has produced five foals but none have matched her ability as a racehorse, with her first foal, an A.P. Indy filly named Colors Flying, proving best so far as a winner with earnings of more than $50,000.
As a champion and Breeders’ Cup winner, Storm Flag Flying was the perfect filly to carry on her family’s high-class tradition on the track.