First Resort returns from lengthy layoff
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First Resort’s first start, in July 2024, came sprinting over a sloppy Ellis Park track, and produced a first-place finish. First Resort’s first outing since November 2024 could happen under similar circumstances and yield the same outcome.
First Resort, a Godolphin homebred trained by Eoin Harty, is part of an overflow field of 14 entered in the featured sixth race Friday at Ellis. The race has a basic second-level allowance condition and a $62,500 claiming option and is carded for 5 1/2 furlongs on grass.
About that: It just won’t stop raining in and around Henderson, Ky. Races last Friday, Saturday, and Sunday were rained off turf, and another round of precipitation could arrive Wednesday night. There’s an 80 percent chance of Friday thunderstorms and an even better chance that if they hit, Race 6 winds up on dirt.
That would not in any way inhibit First Resort, who did finish a creditable fourth in his lone turf try in the Grade 1 Summer three summers ago. That November, First Resort captured the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs, briefly starting down the Triple Crown trail before hitting a brick wall. First Resort posted a timed workout Feb. 18, 2025, and didn’t breeze again until this past May.
First Resort might be all right on turf, but take a glance at his sharp debut win going 5 1/2 furlongs in Ellis mud, and you might conclude his best chance comes with a rain-off.
A move to dirt would almost certainly get Big Boat off the also-eligible list and into the race – and Big Boat might prove a better dirt bet than First Resort. Hawthorne-based trainer Jimmy DiVito said he plans to ship Big Boat to Ellis in hopes of running Friday regardless of racing surface.
Big Boat has not raced since a useful third eight months ago while making his grass debut in a good race at this class level at Keeneland.
“I thought he ran a good race on turf at Keeneland, but he can run on dirt, too,” DiVito said.
Ellis dirt, in particular. A year ago, Big Boat returned from a three-month break to clear his first allowance condition by six lengths at Ellis. While that performance came over seven furlongs, Big Boat showed plenty of speed winning his six-furlong career debut at Churchill.
On turf, the race could come down to a pair of horses entered under the claiming option, Step Forward and Schwarzmeier, but if the forecast holds, Ellis might not host turf racing again until Sunday.
Rattle N Roll retired
Trainer Kenny McPeek confirmed Wednesday that 7-year-old Rattle N Roll has been retired from racing.
Rattle N Roll did not look anything like his best self in two races this spring following a second trip to Saudi Arabia, where he finished a distant ninth Feb. 14 in the Saudi Cup, a race in which he’d been a better fifth in 2025. In December, Rattle N Roll won the Tinsel Stakes at Oaklawn Park, the last of his 11 victories from 33 starts.
By Connect out of Jazz Tune, by Johannesberg, Rattle N Roll won the Breeders’ Futurity in 2021, his lone Grade 1 score, but had his best season in 2023. He retires with earnings of $3.95 million.
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