Ellis Park meet kicks off mid-summer racing in Kentucky
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The stop-and-start summer meet at Ellis Park in western Kentucky will begin Thursday with a limited number of spectators on hand and with purses sufficiently high to retain most of the circuit’s top horsemen.
Ellis will open with a four-day week (next Thursday through Sunday), after which Keeneland will run a five-day meet (July 8-12). Action then resumes July 17 at Ellis with Friday-Sunday weeks through Aug. 30.
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As if the pandemic hasn’t already made for a unique situation, the track also is under new ownership, having been purchased last summer by the Laguna Development Corp. out of New Mexico. Officials are still working through details as to who will be permitted to attend live racing, although it has been confirmed that there will be no general admission.
Purses are expected to average about $250,000 per card. Substantial bonuses for registered Kentucky-breds are included, stemming largely from at least $2 million being granted to the purse account by Kentucky Downs through an agreement with the Kentucky division of the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association.
Virtually all of the top trainers will maintain sizable strings at Churchill or Ellis or both through the summer, including Steve Asmussen, Brad Cox, and Mark Casse. Likewise, top jockeys such as Julien Leparoux, Rafael Bejarano, Joe Talamo, and Martin Garcia will ride regularly at Ellis when not fulfilling out-of-town stakes engagements, joining the likes of Florent Geroux, Corey Lanerie, Brian Hernandez Jr., and Miguel Mena, all of whom have competed under similar arrangements in recent summers.
The first stakes is the $50,000 Ellis Park Turf on July 5.
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◗ Change of Control, whose victory in a June 19 allowance upped her record to 3 for 3 over the Churchill turf course, is getting a short break prior to her next start, said trainer Michelle Lovell.
“We have several possibilities in mind but haven’t decided yet,” said Lovell. “She’s wild with confidence on the track right now, bucking and playing.”
The Nov. 7 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint is the ultimate goal for the 4-year-old Fed Biz filly, whose odds in her three Churchill wins were 35-1, 18-1, and 8-1.
◗ Starting Monday, horse owners will be permitted in limited numbers in the Churchill stable area during training hours, according to a notice on the Sunday overnight.
Owners had been permitted to attend the Churchill races (but not the backside) since June 6. The same pandemic-related restrictions involving temperature checks, masks, and other protocols will apply. Jockey agents also will now permitted on the backside with the same stipulations after having been denied access during the meet.