Champagne Problems possible for Locust Grove

Champagne Problems, winner of the Groupie Doll Stakes last Sunday at Ellis Park, could make her next start in the Locust Grove on opening weekend of the September meet at Churchill Downs, trainer Ian Wilkes said this week from Saratoga.

The Locust Grove, like the Groupie Doll, is a Grade 3, $100,000 race for fillies and mares. It will be run Sept. 15 at 1 1/16 miles.

Champagne Problems earned a career-high 95 Beyer Speed Figure when she rallied under Calvin Borel to win the Groupie Doll, the traditional Ellis Park showcase, by 3 1/4 lengths over Sense of Bravery. The big effort followed a June 23 allowance win at Churchill.

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Champagne Problems, owned by a partnership led by Randy Bloch, has been stabled in recent weeks at the Skylight Training Center in Goshen, Ky., with Bob Tucker, the longtime assistant to Wilkes and Carl Nafzger.

Borel, the Hall of Fame jockey who was winning a graded stakes for the first time in nearly six months, told Ellis publicity after the Groupie Doll: “The filly always had talent. I’ve got to give credit to Ian for getting her ready for this race. We’ve been pointing her for this the last couple of races, and she’s just getting better and better. “We had to spend a lot of time with her, get her head right, do a lot of work with her.”

The 11-day meet at Churchill runs Sept. 14-30, directly following the five-day Kentucky Downs meet (Sept. 1-13).

Jones back to his roots

The one-two finish by Believe in Royalty and Kowboy Karma in the $75,000 Ellis Park Derby, the supporting feature last Sunday at the western Kentucky track, amounted to a trip back in time for their trainer, Larry Jones. The Ellis Derby effectively replaced the Cliff Guilliams Memorial on the local stakes schedule.

Jones, a native of Hopkinsville, Ky., was an Ellis regular for 27 years before moving his stable to the East Coast after a tornado ravaged the Ellis stable area in November 2005. Jones, back with an Ellis division for the first time in years, recalled that his first stakes victory came in 1986 at Ellis.

“It’s good to be back here, do this, for the inaugural running of the Ellis Park Derby,” said Jones. “I’m proud to do it.”

Half-sisters in action Friday

Although there’s not so much as one allowance on an eight-race card Friday at Ellis, there is this note of interest: half-sisters Deauville Mist (race 6) and She’s So Bossy (race 8) both will be in action.

Both fillies were produced by Angels’ Share, who began a 42-race career in 2006 as the property of Woodford Reserve Stables, a partnership that was a forerunner to the large ownership groups that have become very popular in recent years. Deauville Mist is a 4-year-old by English Channel, and She’s So Bossy is a 3-year by Street Boss. Both are trained by Tim Glyshaw for a partnership that includes the fillies’ breeders, Kentucky state Rep. David Osborne and his wife, Loren.

First post daily at Ellis is 12:50 p.m. Central.

Final stakes on tap

The last two of 10 stakes at the summer meet will be run Sunday at Ellis. Both the $75,000 Ellis Juvenile and its filly counterpart, the $75,000 Ellis Debutante, will be run at seven furlongs. Entries were to be drawn Thursday.

The meet runs through Labor Day, Sept. 3, with Sept. 1 being dark in deference to the opening-day card at Kentucky Downs.

◗ With 21 of 30 days complete, Brad Cox is comfortably atop the Ellis trainer standings with 17 wins, while Shaun Bridgmohan (21) leads apprentice Edgar Morales (19) and Corey Lanerie (17) among jockeys.