Personal Ensign

Only five distaffers have been entered to go the 10 furlongs of Friday’s
Personal Ensign H. (G1) at Saratoga, and the event appears, on paper on least,
to be a two-horse race. BALLETTO (UAE) (Timber Country) and FLEET INDIAN (Indian
Charlie), who have opposite running styles, are a class above the rest of their
rivals, and we’re going with the former to take her first win since October
of 2004.

A bout of colic forced Balletto into early retirement last summer, but her quick recovery
from surgery had her connections rethinking their
decision. They brought their 2004 Frizette S. (G1) winner back in March, and
the chestnut miss showed plenty of rustiness, finishing fourth while only
earning an 82 BRIS Speed rating. Since then, though, the Tom Albertrani-trained
lass has shown marked improvement, running second in the Shuvee H. (G2) and
third Ogden Phipps H. (G1). Balletto was well back of the winner, Take d’ Tour
(Tour d’Or), in those two events, but the experiences were exactly what she
needed, as she demonstrated last out in the Go for Wand H. (G1).

Racing in last early, the four-year-old put in a game stretch run on the outside,
making up ground with every stride, and just ran out of room in the nine-furlong
test to miss by a nose at the wire. Suddenly, we were seeing the Balletto of
old, as she garnered a 111 Speed figure, 113 BRIS E2 Pace rating and a 103 BRIS
Late Pace number. Javier Castellano has been aboard in all but her very first
start back, and the pair could finally find themselves together in the winner’s
circle at the end of this one.

Fleet Indian is the possible lone speed in this field and could easily lead from gate to
wire under Jose Santos. The Todd Pletcher charge has captured her past six
races, including the Next Move H. (G3), Sixty Sails H. (G3) and Delaware H. (G2)
by a combined 19 lengths, and has earned century-topping Speed ratings in all
four of her starts this year. Our only knock against the dark bay five-year-old,
and one of the reasons we’re placing her second, is that she hasn’t been able to
hit the board in two starts at Saratoga. Those races did occur before she
transferred to Pletcher’s barn, but Fleet Indian just might not like the track.
She’ll probably prove us completely wrong in this one, but we’re going to take a
chance and just use her to fill out the exacta.

YOLANDA B. TOO (Two Punch) is still looking for her first stakes win. The
four-year-old filly captured two allowance/optional claimers pretty easily at
Belmont during the summer, earning a 105 Speed rating for one of them, and then
ran second by a length to last year’s Kentucky Oaks (G1) queen, Summerly (Summer
Squall), in the Ashado S. last out. Though we don’t think the Richard Violette
Jr. trainee is quite on the same level as the top two, she still looks better
than the rest of the field. Garrett Gomez has the call.

SOUL SEARCH (A.P. Indy) could show some improvement while returning to the
main track. The Neil Howard charge ran eighth in a Churchill Downs turf
allowance, captured the same condition at that track while racing on the dirt
next out, and was then last seen finishing fifth in yet another turf test at
Churchill, this time an allowance/optional claimer. Soul Search has shown her
best on the main track and could upset Yolanda B. Too for the show spot with a
career-best run under John Velazquez.

INDIA HALO (Arg) (Halo Sunshine) is another who will be returning to her
preferred surface after a stint on the grass. However, the six-year-old mare’s
numbers on both surfaces seem to indicate she could be out of her depth here.
With only five runners in this event, she’ll get a share of the purse no matter
what, but we don’t see her being a factor during the actual running.