For longtime racing fans, it cannot be but sad to see the historic Suburban Stakes (formerly Handicap) reduced to a Grade 2 race and drawing a five-horse field. Nonetheless, the three-horse battle to the finish on July 8 was as thrilling as any on the race’s heyday, and it was the improving Dynamic One who got his nose down right on the line to score his first graded victory in the 10-furlong test.
Racing for owner-breeder Phipps Stable in partnership with Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable, Dynamic One has always had the bloodlines to be something special. A son of 2012 Belmont Stakes (USA-G1) winner Union Rags, Dynamic One is a great-great-grandson of the great Personal Ensign, one of the great treasures of the Phipps family’s racing history. The American champion older female of 1988 after winning a spine-tingling decision over 1988 Kentucky Derby (USA-G1) winner Winning Colors in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (USA-G1), Personal Ensign retired unbeaten from 13 starts.
As a broodmare, Personal Ensign was equally memorable. The dam of three Grade 1 winners, she was named the Kentucky Broodmare of the Year for 1996. That was the year that her daughter My Flag (by the Phippses’ champion 2-year-old male and 1989 Belmont Stakes winner Easy Goer) won the Coaching Club American Oaks (USA-G1) and ran third in the Belmont Stakes.
My Flag never earned a championship although she had also won the 1995 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (USA-G1) as well as the 1996 Ashland Stakes (USA-G1) and Gazelle Handicap (USA-G1), but she was easily the best runner among Personal Ensign’s daughters. She is also one of four of the great mare’s daughters to produce at least one graded stakes winner. The others are Salute (by Unbridled), dam of 2014 Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes (USA-G1) winner Mr. Speaker (by Pulpit) and Grade 3 winners Fire Away (by War Front) and Vigilantes Way (by Medaglia d’Oro); Title Seeker (by Monarchos), dam of Grade 3 winners Seeking the Title (by Seeking the Gold) and Title Ready (by More Than Ready; and Pennant Champion, dam of Grade 3 winner Animal Spirits (by Arch).
The best of My Flag’s 11 named foals was her second, Storm Flag Flying (by Storm Cat), who became the third generation of her female line to win a Breeders’ Cup race when she duplicated her dam’s win in the Juvenile Fillies in 2002. The victory lifted her to a title as American champion 2-year-old filly, and, after fracturing a hind leg at 3, she came back to win the 2004 Personal Ensign Handicap (USA-G1) as a 4-year-old—an especially nice touch, considering that Personal Ensign overcame a similar injury to become a champion.
Storm Flag Flying failed to produce a stakes winner among her eight named foals, although her Grade 3-placed full sister On Parade is the dam of 2009 Dixie Stakes (USA-G2) winner Parading (by Pulpit) and the granddam of Grade 3 winner Performer; a half sister, stakes winner With Flying Colors (by A.P. Indy) is the dam of 2017 Monmouth Oaks (USA-G3) winner Teresa Z. (by Smart Strike). Over the last year, however, Storm Flag Flying’s daughters have begun taking up the slack. Last year, Playtime (by Street Cry) became the dam of Appalachian Stakes (USA-G2) winner Jouster (by Noble Mission). This year, it was Beat the Drums’s turn as Dynamic One, her third foal, became her first winner and first stakes winner. Beat the Drums has a 2021 Ghostzapper colt and a 2022 Street Sense filly waiting in the wings, and Playtime is most recently the dam of a 2020 West Coast filly and a 2022 Curlin colt. Storm Flag Flying has two other well-bred daughters in production in Sea Trial (2011, by Unbridled’s Song) and Dance Club (2016, by Candy Ride), so there is every chance that further good horses will be forthcoming to bolster this branch of the family.
As for Dynamic One, he will likely next target the Jockey Club Gold Cup (USA-G1), which will be contested at Saratoga over the same distance on September 3. A win there would give him a “Win and You’re In” slot for the Breeders’ Cup Classic (USA-G1) and a chance at becoming the fourth member of his distinguished family to win a Breeders’ Cup race.
Racing for owner-breeder Phipps Stable in partnership with Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable, Dynamic One has always had the bloodlines to be something special. A son of 2012 Belmont Stakes (USA-G1) winner Union Rags, Dynamic One is a great-great-grandson of the great Personal Ensign, one of the great treasures of the Phipps family’s racing history. The American champion older female of 1988 after winning a spine-tingling decision over 1988 Kentucky Derby (USA-G1) winner Winning Colors in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (USA-G1), Personal Ensign retired unbeaten from 13 starts.
As a broodmare, Personal Ensign was equally memorable. The dam of three Grade 1 winners, she was named the Kentucky Broodmare of the Year for 1996. That was the year that her daughter My Flag (by the Phippses’ champion 2-year-old male and 1989 Belmont Stakes winner Easy Goer) won the Coaching Club American Oaks (USA-G1) and ran third in the Belmont Stakes.
My Flag never earned a championship although she had also won the 1995 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (USA-G1) as well as the 1996 Ashland Stakes (USA-G1) and Gazelle Handicap (USA-G1), but she was easily the best runner among Personal Ensign’s daughters. She is also one of four of the great mare’s daughters to produce at least one graded stakes winner. The others are Salute (by Unbridled), dam of 2014 Belmont Derby Invitational Stakes (USA-G1) winner Mr. Speaker (by Pulpit) and Grade 3 winners Fire Away (by War Front) and Vigilantes Way (by Medaglia d’Oro); Title Seeker (by Monarchos), dam of Grade 3 winners Seeking the Title (by Seeking the Gold) and Title Ready (by More Than Ready; and Pennant Champion, dam of Grade 3 winner Animal Spirits (by Arch).
The best of My Flag’s 11 named foals was her second, Storm Flag Flying (by Storm Cat), who became the third generation of her female line to win a Breeders’ Cup race when she duplicated her dam’s win in the Juvenile Fillies in 2002. The victory lifted her to a title as American champion 2-year-old filly, and, after fracturing a hind leg at 3, she came back to win the 2004 Personal Ensign Handicap (USA-G1) as a 4-year-old—an especially nice touch, considering that Personal Ensign overcame a similar injury to become a champion.
Storm Flag Flying failed to produce a stakes winner among her eight named foals, although her Grade 3-placed full sister On Parade is the dam of 2009 Dixie Stakes (USA-G2) winner Parading (by Pulpit) and the granddam of Grade 3 winner Performer; a half sister, stakes winner With Flying Colors (by A.P. Indy) is the dam of 2017 Monmouth Oaks (USA-G3) winner Teresa Z. (by Smart Strike). Over the last year, however, Storm Flag Flying’s daughters have begun taking up the slack. Last year, Playtime (by Street Cry) became the dam of Appalachian Stakes (USA-G2) winner Jouster (by Noble Mission). This year, it was Beat the Drums’s turn as Dynamic One, her third foal, became her first winner and first stakes winner. Beat the Drums has a 2021 Ghostzapper colt and a 2022 Street Sense filly waiting in the wings, and Playtime is most recently the dam of a 2020 West Coast filly and a 2022 Curlin colt. Storm Flag Flying has two other well-bred daughters in production in Sea Trial (2011, by Unbridled’s Song) and Dance Club (2016, by Candy Ride), so there is every chance that further good horses will be forthcoming to bolster this branch of the family.
As for Dynamic One, he will likely next target the Jockey Club Gold Cup (USA-G1), which will be contested at Saratoga over the same distance on September 3. A win there would give him a “Win and You’re In” slot for the Breeders’ Cup Classic (USA-G1) and a chance at becoming the fourth member of his distinguished family to win a Breeders’ Cup race.
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