Enticing action dominates Kentucky Downs Preview Day card

It’s often said that racing needs more innovation and cooperation. The folks at Ellis Park and Kentucky Downs have been listening intently.

For the second straight year, the sister tracks are teaming on a creative and purposeful program known as Kentucky Downs Preview Day, to be renewed Sunday at Ellis in western Kentucky. Five $100,000 turf stakes are designed as preps for even richer stakes at the upcoming Kentucky Downs meet (Aug. 31-Sept. 12), and the result is an outstanding card featuring such graded stakes winners as Bigger Picture and Mr. Misunderstood.

First post for a 10-race Sunday card is 12:50 p.m. Central, with the stakes being linked together in an all-stakes pick five wager as the last five races. Field size for the stakes averages more than 10 horses per race, making for some fun handicapping for horseplayers both ontrack and in the simulcast market.

Here’s a quick look at each of those Sunday races, which carry entry fee-paid berths and sport the names of the Kentucky Downs stakes they target:

Ladies Sprint Preview

Surrender Now, whose victory on opening day of the Ellis meet in a prep for this 5 1/2-furlong race was part of a win spree for trainer Peter Miller, comes well drawn in the outer post as a solid favorite in a field of nine fillies and mares. Brian Hernandez Jr. has a return call.

Surrender Now looks like she can control things from the outset, although there are several longshots to keep her honest. The most viable late-running challengers include La Dame Blanche, May Lily, and Arabella Bella.

Tourist Mile Preview

There’s little doubt that this one-mile race runs through Mr. Misunderstood, who will break from post 10 under Florent Geroux as the 2-1 morning-line favorite in a field of 11 older horses. A winner in 11 of his 17 career starts on grass, the Kentucky-bred gelding most recently was third at odds-on in his 5-year-old debut when returning from a seven-month layoff in a Churchill Downs turf allowance.

“I thought I had him tight enough, but apparently not,” trainer Brad Cox said. “He’s breezed three more times since then. Our main goal is the Tourist Mile, and we expect him to move forward with this race.”

Among the chief opposition for Mr. Misunderstood are Hot Springs, Mr Cub, Cullum Road, and Siem Riep.

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Turf Sprint Preview

A nose away from being undefeated in his last three starts, Totally Boss has come to peak form for trainer Rusty Arnold. He’s the lukewarm program favorite in a race that leads into the first-ever Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In event at Kentucky Downs, the Sept. 7 Turf Sprint.

Totally Boss, with Geroux riding, will leave from post 6 in a well-matched field of 11 older horses going 5 1/2 furlongs. His top threats include Mr. French, Fast Boat, Jazzy Times, and Angaston.

Angaston, trained by Lon Wiggins, has been knocking heads with some of the top turf sprinters in the Midwest for more than a year now. Wiggins is hoping Hernandez can work out a clean stalking trip from the outside post.

“The Kentucky Downs race would be great, but he’s got to earn it,” Wiggins said.

Ladies Turf Preview

Stave, a 4-year-old Hinkle Farms homebred trained by Larry Jones, has rounded into top form ahead of this one-mile race. She’s the 7-2 morning-line choice in perhaps the most competitive of the five stakes.

“She’s about as good as we’re going to be able to get her now,” Jones said. “She’s good to go.”

Gabriel Saez will be aboard Stave when she breaks from post 2 in a field of 11 fillies and mares. She’s a handy type who’ll be looking to get an early jump on several of the other logical contenders, those being Hanalei Moon, Smart Emma, Smart Shot, and the Brendan Walsh duo of Kallio and Orageuse.

Turf Cup Preview

As the winner of the Grade 1 United Nations at Monmouth Park in 2017, Bigger Picture is the leading earner ($1,661,635) on this terrific card. But that was then, and this is now – and trainer Mike Maker believes the 8-year-old still has things to accomplish.

“He loves his job,” said Maker, who has won three of the last four runnings of the 1 1/2-mile Turf Cup, which will be run Sept. 7. “You can tell in his training, he still wants to get after it.”

Scratched last weekend from the Bowling Green at Saratoga, Bigger Picture, with Tyler Gaffalione to ride, will break from post 7 in a field of 11. The two-turn race starts at the very top of the homestretch.

Other serious players include Nessy, My Boy Jack, Hello Don Julio, and Manitoulin.