by Steve Bailey

Champion older female Ginger Punch has looked unbeatable in her previous three starts, winning by a combined 12 3/4 lengths.

The 2007 Emirates Airline Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) winner will seek her third consecutive Grade 1 victory on Friday as she headlines a field of seven for the $400,000 Personal Ensign Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course.

The Frank Stronach homebred has won four of five starts this season for Racing Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel, the only blemish being a third-place finish behind unbeaten Zenyatta in the Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) on April 5 at Oaklawn Park.

Since the Apple Blossom, Ginger Punch has been as overpowering as she has been perfect.

The five-year-old Awesome Again mare won the Louisville Stakes (G2) by 3 3/4 lengths on May 2 at Churchill Downs, the Ogden Phipps Handicap (G1) by 7 3/4 lengths on June 14 at Belmont Park, and the Go for Wand Handicap (G1), a race she also captured in 2007, by 1 1/4 lengths on July 26 at Saratoga.

Ginger Punch will carry high weight of 122 pounds in the 1 1/4-mile race, spotting her six challengers four to six pounds each.

Grade 1 winner Unbridled Belle and Grade 2 winner Spring Waltz appear to have the best chances to keep Ginger Punch from making her fifth trip to the winner's circle this season.

Team Valor International’s Unbridled Belle, winner of last year’s Beldame Stakes (G1) at Belmont Park, opened her season with a 5 3/4-length victory in the Obeah Stakes (G3) on June 14 at Delaware Park and finished third behind Hystericalady in the Delaware Handicap (G2) on July 13 in her previous start for trainer Todd Pletcher.

Stronach’s Spring Waltz, also trained by Frankel, won her first two starts of the year, including a 3 1/4-length victory in the Rampart Handicap (G2) on March 9 at Gulfstream Park, and enters off a fourth-place finish in the Delaware Handicap.

 Trained by Racing Hall of Famer Bill Mott, Courtlandt Farm’s Indescribable finished third behind Ginger Punch in the Go for Wand in her previous start. The four-year-old Pleasant Tap filly won the Arlington Matron Handicap (G3) by a half-length on May 26 at Arlington Park.

Steve Bailey is deputy news editor of Thoroughbred Times

The field, in post-position order, with (sire), jockey, weight, and trainer:

1. So Glitzy (Gilded Time), Cornelio Velasquez, 116, Allen Jerkens;

2. Lemon Drop Mom (Lemon Drop Kid), Jose Caraballo, 116, Tim Ritchey;

3. Indescribable (Pleasant Tap), Kent Desormeaux, 116, Bill Mott;

4. Unbridled Belle (Broken Vow), Ramon Dominguez, 118, Todd Pletcher;

5. Ginger Punch (Awesome Again), Rafael Bejarano, 122, Bobby Frankel;

6. Golden Velvet (Seeking the Gold), Eibar Coa, 116, Kiaran McLaughlin; and

7. Spring Waltz (Silver Charm), Javier Castellano, 118, Bobby Frankel.