Ellis Park puts focus on juveniles

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – With live action on the Kentucky circuit shifting Sunday to Ellis Park in western Kentucky, there will be a major focus on 2-year-old racing throughout the summer.

Purses for 2-year-old maiden-specials will be a track-record $42,000, which includes bonuses for registered Kentucky-breds. Most starters are Kentucky-breds. A recent canvassing of historical trends by track publicist Jennie Rees found that 107 horses who raced at Ellis at 2 in the last 20 years (since 1998) have gone on to win a graded race, including 18 in a Grade 1.

Last year, the track revived a pair of $75,000 stakes for 2-year-olds that had been dormant for nearly a decade, the Ellis Juvenile and Ellis Debutante. Those races will be renewed on Aug. 19.

Trainer Dale Romans has become such a staunch supporter of the 2-year-old program at Ellis that he said none of his babies will be part of the string he will be sending soon to Saratoga.

“If they’re any good, nobody is going to care where they broke their maiden,” Romans said. “If they aren’t any good, they’re not going to win at Saratoga anyway.”