Ballis, Lewis hope to continue stakes momentum

LEXINGTON, Ky. – What a month it was for Jake Ballis and his longtime friend, NBA star Rashard Lewis. Partners in a small stable, they won three stakes in that relatively short time frame, capped by White Rose grinding out another victory Sunday in the $125,000 Dowager Stakes at Keeneland.

“Now we need just one more in a couple weeks,” Ballis said.

Ahem, okay. Ballis is referring to the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic, in which the stable will be represented by longshot Cigar Street.

“We’ll ride this momentum as long as it’ll take us,” Ballis said.

Their streak started on Sept. 24, closing day of the Kentucky Downs meet, when White Rose won a division of the Ladies Marathon. Then came the Sept. 27 Homecoming Classic at Churchill Downs, where Cigar Street won to stamp his Breeders’ Cup ticket. And then White Rose won again Sunday, furthering her status in the filly and mare marathon niche, as Ballis and friends celebrated raucously.

Cigar Street, trained by Bill Mott, actually is one of the top older horses remaining amid a depleted division. The top four favorites in the BC Classic all might well be 3-year-olds: Shared Belief, California Chrome, Tonalist, and Bayern.