Ellis Park: Louisiana mare Bella Medaglia makes long trip for Three Fanfares

Trainer Pat Devereux Jr. has gone out of his way to run a horse in his native Kentucky just once in the last 10 years, and that horse, How Pleasant, was a maiden-special winner at the 2012 spring meet at Keeneland. Devereux, based at the Evangeline training center in Lafayette, La., will be back for seconds on Saturday at Ellis Park in western Kentucky with a mare named Bella Medaglia, one of the main contenders in the feature race.

Bella Medaglia, with Jesus Castanon to ride, was assigned the outside post in a field of seven entered in the Three Fanfares, a $37,000 overnight stakes that goes as the third of nine Saturday races. Half of the purse is restricted to horses eligible to the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund.

“The mare is doing some kind of good, and she’s a KTDF horse, so we thought we’d take a shot,” said Devereux, who trains exclusively for the Coteau Grove Farms of Keith and Ginger Myers.

Bella Medaglia, an earner of $264,666 from 18 starts, most recently was second in a $50,000 stakes at Evangeline.

Other contenders in the Three Fanfares include Moon Buzz, trained by Devereux’s brother-in-law, Steve Margolis; Ms Anna Destiny, trained by the red-hot Dale Romans; and Fortune Play, the leading earner in the cast with $326,379.

The Saturday card will be the focus of a “Stars and Stripes” handicapping contest at Ellis, where Instant Racing video machines were to be unveiled to the public Friday morning. The 29-day meet ends Monday with the fifth running of the $50,000 Cliff Guilliams Memorial. First post daily is 12:50 p.m. Central.