SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY – Trainer Brad Cox said he was listening to a radio show a few days ago and his attention was piqued when the topic of conversation turned to the upcoming GI Breeders’ Cup Distaff in Del Mar in November.

“They talked about Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) and Adare Manor (Uncle Mo) being a good pair, and I just thought, ‘Wow, she’s totally forgotten,'” trainer Brad Cox said Thursday morning outside his barn on the Oklahoma training track.

“She” is Idiomatic (Curlin), and anyone who has forgotten it should think again.

Idiomatic is, in fact, still in the running to be the best mare or filly in the country. At least in Cox’s stable, she is. The 5-year-old mare will be one of the top names in Friday’s $500,000 GI Personal Ensign at Saratoga Race Course.

Last year’s winner of the Eclipse Award for older dirt females is the 6-5 favorite in the 1 1/8-mile Personal Ensign, a race she won last year.

This was part of her six-race winning streak that ended on June 8 at Saratoga when the Chad Brown-trained Randomized (Nyquist) beat her by a head in the GI Ogden Phipps Stakes at Saratoga. Randomized is also in the Personal Ensign field and is the second choice in the five-horse field at 8-5.

Idiomatic, who finished third in the 2023 Horse of the Year voting after winning eight of nine races in a season – three of them at Grade I – has won two of three starts this year. Heading into Personal Ensign, Cox said Idiomatic couldn’t have done better.

“I think she’s as good as she’s ever been,” Cox said as Idiomatic was led out of the stable. “I really do think so, and she was damn good last year. We’ll let her decide if she wants to be in the mix, and then people will start talking about her again.”

In their last start, Idiomatic and jockey Florent Geroux won the GIII Molly Pitcher at Monmouth Park by a head Soul of an Angel (Atreides), trained by Saffie Joseph, Jr. Soul of an Angel (5-1) also runs in the Personal Ensign.

Idiomatic has 11 wins in 15 career starts with two second and two third finishes. Her loss at the Ogden Phipps was her first since May 6, 2023.

“I don’t know if I take (losses to her) personally,” Cox said. “I can’t really be upset. Randomized is very good and it took a lot of effort for us to get past her in last year’s Breeders’ Cup (Distaff). (Idiomatic) ran a great race (in the Phipps). It wasn’t like she was beaten by three or four lengths. We didn’t get the good bob. We’re looking forward to giving her another run.”

Mott is looking forward to seeing what the improvement of Batten Down can do at Travers

On Thursday morning, jockey Junior Alvarado visited the stables of Fasten the battens (Tapit) in the stable of Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott at the Oklahoma training track.

“His jockey will talk to him,” Mott said, chuckling as he watched the exchange.

Juddmonte’s Kentucky homebred Batten Down made his mark in the 3-year-old ring last month when he finished third in the GII Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga. He was unbeatable Wildness (City of Light), who won the race by one length Sierra Leone (Gun Runner), who was 5 3/4 quarters ahead of Batten Down.

But Mott has seen enough in this race to give Batten Down a chance in the Midsummer Derby.

“He needs to improve, but he’s not far off,” Mott said. “There are horses here that are more proven – Fierceness and Sierra Leone – but I think we fit in with the others. I don’t know if he needs to run the race of his life, because hopefully he’s got a long career ahead of him. But he needs to go from his last race.”

Alvarado said the best recipe for Travers’ success is to have Batten Down in the lead. When he won the GIII Ohio Derby on Thistledown, he led from start to finish, and he did the same when he took his first win on his fourth try at Churchill Downs on April 30.

He won the race by 8 3/4 lengths.

In the Jim Dandy, Batten Down was in third place for almost the entire 1 1/8 miles.

“He gave 70 percent in this race,” said Alvarado. “We had a nice place, but I don’t think he wanted that. He likes to be in the lead. When he’s behind, he doesn’t give up his power. When he’s in the lead, he keeps going.”

“He has a quick reaction time if we want to use it,” Mott said.

Alvarado has ridden Batten Down in his last four starts. The Travers will be his seventh career start. Batten Down is out of the 2014 champion mare Close Hatches and is a full brother to Tacitus, who finished second for Mott in the 2019 GI Belmont Stakes. Batten Down is also a full brother to Scylla, who is trained by Mott and will run in the GI Ballerina Stakes on Saturday.

“He’s got such good pedigree that we were always optimistic about him,” Mott said. “At this time last year he hadn’t shown that. I’m approaching (the Travers) with a wait-and-see attitude.”

Batten Down is at 20:1 on the Travers Morning Line and shares the highest odds with Marie-Honor (Code of Honor).

“We’re just very lucky to have a horse that’s good enough to compete,” Mott said. “He’s earned his way there.”

It’s not an easy place for Speak Easy in Allen Jerkens

In two career starts Just speak (Constitution) has worked.

Now comes the difficult part.

Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher has chosen a tough task for the third career start of the colt, who is owned by Siena Farm LLC and WinStar Farm LLC. Speak Easy runs Saturday in the $500,000 GI H. Allen Jerkens Memorial, one of five Grade I races on the 14-race Travers Day card.

“It’s a big task,” Pletcher said in front of his barn on the Oklahoma training track. “We lack the experience.”

Speak Easy will face experienced graded stakes runners such as Book’em Danno (Bucchero), winner of the GI Woody Stephens Stakes in June, Prince of Monaco (Speightstown), who finished second in the Stephens, World record (Gun Runner), winner of the GII Amsterdam Stakes at Saratoga at the start of the meeting and Domestic product (Practical Joke), winner of the GII Dwyer at Aqueduct last month.

Siena Farm and WinStar Farm also own World Record and Timberlake (Into Mischief), who is also part of the Jerkens.

Speak Easy is clearly the three-year-old with the least experience in the field of 11. Vettriano (Liam’s Map) is closest to him with three starts and Little Ni (Mohaymen) has four.

This is not a one-off move for Pletcher. In the GI Belmont Stakes at Saratoga in June, he entered Mindframe (Constitution), who also had only two career starts. He finished second to Dornoch (Good Magic) in the Belmont and was second in the GI Haskell Stakes last month, also behind Dornoch.

Speak Easy, ridden by Saratoga’s leading rider Irad Ortiz Jr., won his first race in January at Gulfstream Park by 1 3/4 lengths and Pletcher entered him in the GII Fountain of Youth. He retired after breaking loose in the post-race parade, resurfaced in an allowance race at Saratoga on July 27 and won by 2 1/4 lengths.

“I like the way he ran the comeback over six furlongs,” Pletcher said. “He’s shown versatility and can drop a little. This race should be fast enough to suit his style. It’s an ambitious move, but there’s a lot of potential.”