Boss Lafitte has back class

Trainer Tom Amoss, a winner with each of his two starters this summer at Ellis Park, appears poised to push his Ellis record to 3 for 3 when he starts graded stakes winner Boss Lafitte in the sixth race at Ellis, a third-level optional $50,000 claimer at 1 1/16 miles on grass.

Winner of last year's Grade 3 Transylvania Stakes at Keeneland and the USA Stakes at Lone Star, Boss Lafitte is the class of the race. And though his current 4-year-old form is not on par with his 3-year-old form, he comes off a second-place finish at Indiana Downs in a money allowance July 11 that was taken off grass and transferred to a sloppy main track.

With many of Ellis Park's leading riders out of town Saturday, Fabio Arguello Jr. picks up the mount - his first ride on an Amoss-trained horse in 2008-2009.

The opposition is headed by Iron Id, a winner of three of his last six starts; T. C. Champ, who has run third in his last two starts on dirt after winning on the Churchill Downs grass; and stakes winner Croton Road, who ran second at Presque Isle on June 26 in his first race in more than a year.