Allowance, strong maiden race top Thursday card

The final four-day stretch of the Ellis Park meet gets under way with the lone Thursday card of the meet. The date was added late to the schedule to make up for the July 4 rainout.

The nominal feature of the eight-race Thursday card is a $39,000 allowance at 6 1/2 furlongs (race 6), but perhaps the most interesting race directly follows as the seventh. It’s a wickedly tough maiden sprint that drew an oversubscribed field of well-bred 2-year-old fillies.

Ellis will race Friday, then go dark Saturday in cooperation with the Kentucky Downs opening. Ellis then runs Sunday and Monday, with the $50,000 Cliff Guilliams Memorial anchoring the closing-day card. First post daily is 12:50 p.m. Central.

◗ Hall of Fame jockey Calvin Borel returned to the saddle to great fanfare Saturday at Ellis, finishing third and fourth with his two comeback mounts. Borel, 49, had been on a self-imposed hiatus since March 26.

“I wasn’t ready to retire,” he told Ellis publicity. “I just had to get away for a little while, get a load off and come back. That’s life. I’m too young, and I’m too healthy, and I love to do it. I was far from ready to quit, so I’m back. Wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

◗ Into the final week of the Ellis meet, Corey Lanerie holds a slim lead atop the jockey standings with 22 wins, followed closely by Jimmy Graham (20), Brian Hernandez Jr. (19), Miguel Mena (19), and Didiel Osorio (18). Steve Asmussen leads Ian Wilkes by a 14-11 count atop the trainer standings.