ARCADIA, Calif. — The great racemare Personal Ensign, who won the 1988 Breeders’ Cup Distaff (now called the Ladies’ Secret) in dramatic fashion to finish her career undefeated, won 11 of her 13 starts with five surgical screws in her left hind leg after fracturing her pastern as a 2-year-old.
This Friday in the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic, Awesome Feather — the 2-year-old filly champion of 2010 — looks to go 11-for-11 after overcoming an injury that was just as career-threatening as Personal Ensign’s.
After Awesome Feather went 6-for-6 at 2, she was purchased at auction by Frank Stronach for $2.3 million and sent to trainer Chad Brown, but a bowed tendon (a tear of the fibers) in her left front leg sent her to the sidelines. Most horses never make it back from that injury, but 11 months later Awesome Feather returned to the races and won three stakes in the next four months.
Given another long break, the 4-year-old Florida-bred came back again on Sept. 20 at Belmont to win her 10th straight by 11 lengths, running the mile in 1:33.47.
“On the average, you don’t see this type of thing happen often with a tendon, but this is a totally different situation,” Brown said. “This horse is a special horse.
“Every horse is different, and every injury is different. It depends on where it is, the extent of it, or a horse’s own tolerance for pain or healing. There is a lot of luck involved. The most important component is her, the filly. She’s overcome it. We’ve tried to help her along and stay out of her way.”
* The final flight bringing horses from New York to the Breeders’ Cup — including leading Classic candidate Mucho Macho Man and Todd Pletcher’s standout 2-year-olds, the colt Shanghai Bobby and the fillies Dreaming of Julia and Kauai Katie — is expected to leave Stewart International Airport in Newburgh, N.Y., early this morning after being delayed because of Hurricane Sandy.
The plane will stop in Kentucky, then continue on the California, with agents of the Thoroughbred Protective Bureau aboard to keep the horses under surveillance in accordance with Breeders’ Cup protocols.
* There is still time to register for the Breeders’ Cup $500k Pay Day promotion to receive a mystery voucher via e-mail for $2, $5 or $100 — and for one lucky contestant, $500,000 — to bet on the Cup at your local simulcast outfit. To sign up, go to payday.breederscup.com before midnight tonight.
* Hurricane Sandy struck close to home out here when Claudene Christian, 42, a former marketing executive at Hollywood Park, drowned after the tall ship HMS Bounty sunk Monday off the coast of North Carolina.
According to Christian’s Facebook page, she was a descendant of Fletcher Christian, the lead mutineer on the original Bounty portrayed by Clark Cable, Marlon Brando and Mel Gibson in various films.