Ben Colebrook respects them all but fears none. That’s probably a commonly held view by the connections of all nine 3-year-olds in the $200,000 Ellis Park Derby, which will be run Sunday as the marquee event of the 23-day Ellis Park meet in western Kentucky. “It sure looks wide open to me,” said Colebrook, who is running Friar Laurence in the one-mile Ellis Derby off a 2 1/2-length allowance victory. Friar Laurence, with French jockey Mickaelle Michel riding, will break from post 1 as an 8-1 co-fourth choice on the Ellis program behind favorites Trademark (5-2), Strava (7-2), and Top of the Charts (4-1). :: DRF Bets members get FREE DRF Past Performances - Formulator or Classic. Join now! Friar Laurence, owned by Andrew Warren, earned a 91 Beyer Speed Figure in giving Michel her first North American win in a July 17 upset of heavily favored Chasing Time, who also is entered back in this race. The sharp effort was good enough to convince Colebrook to wheel back the Violence colt four weeks later for the Ellis Park Derby, his first try in stakes company on dirt. “He’d acted like he might be real useful at Turfway Park over the winter, but we had to give him some time off after his second race there,” Colebrook said. “He’s come back all the better for it, for sure, and his comeback race ought to set him up well for this. We’re pretty excited to see him run back.” Trademark (post 9, Gerardo Corrales) has competed exclusively in graded company in five starts this year, all for BBN Racing and trainer Vicki Oliver, although the best he could do in any of those was a fourth in the Grade 3 Indiana Derby last month. The Upstart gelding ended his 2-year-old campaign with back-to-back wins in two-turn races at Churchill Downs. Strava (post 2, Brian Hernandez Jr.), like Friar Laurence, comes off a first-level allowance victory, having blitzed a good field in early June going a one-turn mile at Churchill in earning a career-best 90 Beyer. The Into Mischief colt is trained by Dallas Stewart for a partnership that includes retired University of Louisville basketball coach Denny Crum. Top of the Charts (post 3, James Graham), the lone $2,000 supplementary entry in the field, will be risking a 2-for-2 career mark when stretching out off maiden and allowance sprint wins at Churchill. Brian Lynch trains the speedy Maclean’s Music gelding for Raroma Stable. Chasing Time (post 6, Rafael Bejarano) will try to make amends for the last-out loss as a 1-2 favorite and seeks his first win since January. Steve Asmussen trains the Not This Time colt for a My Racehorse syndicate. Rounding out the Ellis Derby lineup are Rome, We All See It, Knocker Down, and the wild card of the group Steal Sunshine, a Florida invader coming off back-to-back wins at Gulfstream Park for trainer Bobby DiBona. The 92 last-out Beyer for Steal Sunshine (post 8, Leonel Reyes) in capturing the Carry Back on July 9 equals the field-topper earned by Top of the Charts in his second Churchill score. The Ellis Derby is the nightcap of a nine-race card that starts at 12:50 p.m. Central, with the finale going at 4:40. It’s the last leg in an all-stakes pick five (races 5-9) that runs through the $125,000 Ellis Juvenile, $125,000 Ellis Debutante, $100,000 Audubon Oaks, and $125,000 Groupie Doll. All five stakes will be run on what is expected to be a fast main track, with each listed purse including $25,000 in bonuses to registered Kentucky-breds. These are the last stakes races at the summer meet, which runs through Aug. 28. Kentucky Downs runs its seven-day meet Sept. 1-14. This is the fifth running of the Ellis Derby, which had its most notable renewal two years ago when heavily favored Art Collector was an easy winner going 1 1/8 miles in what was designed as a prep for the Kentucky Derby, run in September 2020. Super Stock won last year for Asmussen and his family, also as a stout favorite and also at 1 1/8 miles. The first two runnings in 2018 and 2019 were at a mile. The Sunday forecast for Henderson, Ky., calls for mostly sunny skies and a high of 88. ◗ Ellis has announced a post of 3 p.m. Central for the last two Fridays of the meet (Aug. 19 and 26).