Cox, Hernandez win titles at Ellis meeting
FRANKLIN, Ky. – Brad Cox was the leading trainer and Brian Hernandez Jr. was the leading jockey at the 31-day summer meet that ended Saturday at Ellis Park in western Kentucky.
With Jorgito Abrego serving as his on-site assistant while he summered at Saratoga, Cox was represented by 23 winners, nine more than runner-up Ian Wilkes. Cox, the 2020 Eclipse Award winner for outstanding trainer, also topped the standings at the Churchill spring meet.
Hernandez rode 28 winners, nine more than Florent Geroux. Calumet Farm was the leading owner with eight wins.
◗ The Thursday features at Kentucky Downs are the $500,000 Global Tote Juvenile Sprint for 2-year-olds and the $400,000 One Dreamer for fillies and mares. Wesley Ward has won all three of the prior runnings of the Juvenile Sprint with Moonlight Romance (2018), Cambria (2019), and Outadore (2020).
◗ Wednesday starts the second of three two-day handicapping contests at this meet. The first live-bankroll contest sponsored by Daily Racing Form was held Sunday and Monday; the last one is set for Saturday and Sunday. Contestants can play online.
◗ All-sources handle on the opening-day card was not made available by Kentucky Downs management. Ted Nicholson, vice president of racing operations, said the track will release aggregate handle after the meet ends in a policy shift from prior years.
◗ The first pick five of the meet, held on races 1-5 Sunday, was a pool-sweeper. A 50-1 winner, Clear for Action, was part of a sequence that returned $258,382 on a 50-cent ticket. The pool was $300,465.