The 6-year-old Louisiana-bred mare Ova Charged’s racing career hit a new level when connections switched her to turf earlier this year. The people calling the shots with Red Carpet Ready hope for a similar result when the 4-year-old filly makes her turf debut Saturday at Ellis Park in the $250,000 Kentucky Downs Preview Ladies Turf Sprint. Red Carpet Ready faces seven foes in the 5 1/2-furlong Ladies Turf Sprint, chief among them Ova Charged. While Red Carpet Ready need only travel partway across Kentucky from trainer Rusty Arnold’s base at Keeneland, Ova Charged shipped to Ellis late Monday night and into Tuesday from Louisiana. The trip marks Ova Charged’s second such journey in three months. On May 3, the 6-year-old mare gutted out a neck victory in the Unbridled Sidney at Churchill Downs after shipping from Fair Grounds. “I think this is as tough as the other race she won in Kentucky,” said Shane Wilson, who trains Ova Charged for her breeder, Brittlyn Stable. Ova Charged has put together a remarkable career record, 18-15-1-0, and while she proved a good dirt sprinter from the start, Ova Charged has gone 5 for 5 on grass. She’s unbeaten in seven starts since Wilson took over her training last fall. Ova Charged, by Star Guitar, won her first two for Wilson on dirt, after which the trainer, noting a sharp performance in the mare’s lone grass start back in March 2022, tried her in the Mardi Gras Stakes on Feb. 13. Ova Charged whistled to a 5 1/4-length win in that open filly and mare turf sprint, then walloped Louisiana-breds a month later in the Page Cortez, the 113 Beyer Speed Figure she earned in the race, the highest Beyer in North America this year. “She just comes out of these turf races so good,” Wilson said. “The day after she won last time in Texas, she was bucking and squealing in her stall.” Ova Charged is a strong galloper and Wilson nearly never works the mare, a 1,200-pound behemoth whose body struggles to handle the pounding concussion of dirt training and racing. Wilson never has set foot on the Kentucky Downs property but plans a scouting expedition to the European-style southern Kentucky course, with hopes of running Ova Charged in the $1.5 million Ladies Turf Sprint there Aug. 31. Even excluding the purse money available only to Kentucky-breds, Ova Charged would compete for a $900,000 pot. Meanwhile, Rusty Arnold said Saturday’s contest is also a Kentucky Downs trial run for Red Carpet Ready, a winner of five of nine on dirt and untested on turf. Red Carpet Ready once in her life has set foot on a grass course, working an easy half-mile in April 2022 at Keeneland, but all three of her siblings to race were campaigned on grass, and her sire, Oscar Performance, was a turf miler. Arnold said Red Carpet Ready likely would’ve begun her career on turf had the Churchill Downs grass course not been closed when she was ready to start. Red Carpet Ready ran below her baseline form finishing a well-beaten eighth last out in the May 4 Derby City Distaff, a Grade 1 over seven furlongs. “The timing is good here to see if it could work for her,” Arnold said. Nikki Nine Doors on July 6 won the Pea Patch, an Ellis turf sprint for 3-year-old fillies, and has some upside, while the presence of B G Warrior ensures an honest pace. Nashville Derby Preview Green Light finished a well-beaten third making his stakes debut June 29 at Churchill Downs as the 4-5 favorite in the American Derby. His connections have reason to hope the talented colt comes to the $250,000 Kentucky Downs Preview Nashville Derby with a better chance to show his best. Green Light is one of eight in this 1 1/8-mile grass race and is listed as the 2-1 morning-line favorite under Alex Achard. On May 18, Green Light, making his second start in a turf route, won a Churchill maiden race by more than 10 lengths, and while Green Light got a great trip pressing a slow pace, he made the most of it, running his final 2 1/2 furlongs in a strong 28.98 seconds while drawing clear. Leading at a moderate clip in the American Derby, Green Light went flat through the final furlong, tiring to the extent that trainer Rodolphe Brisset said that looking at a drone view of the stretch run, Green Light “was getting wavy.” “Afterward he was blowing harder than he’d ever blown,” Brisset said. Green Light worked and raced in a tongue tie because he consistently displaced his soft palate, Brisset said, inhibiting his ability to properly breath under heavy exertion. After the American Derby, Green Light underwent a myectomy, a minimally invasive surgical procedure intended to correct the airway problem. “We still have to see, but it looks like it’s made a difference. His works have been excellent,” said Brisset, who trains Green Light for the colt’s breeder, Peter Blum Thoroughbreds. Cameo Performance breaks from the stall immediately outside Green Light, who finished second behind him at Keeneland in April when Cameo Performance cleared the maiden ranks in a grass route. Cameo Performance had the superior trip that day, and while he ran better last out in the Marine Stakes on Tapeta than he had in his first try with other winners, in the Audubon on turf at Churchill, you can go to the windows on Green Light if you think the colt gets back to his best. Mint Millions Preview In order to run as fast as he can, the 5-year-old gelding Win for the Money needs a fast pace to develop in front of him. He got one winning the Mr. Steele Stakes on May 29 at Gulfstream by the better part of seven lengths, and he did not while checking in a one-paced fourth under Jose Ortiz on June 29 in the Wise Dan at Churchill.4 “I think the race just didn’t set up very well with no pace, and he battled with Jose a little,” said trainer Mark Casse. Casse hopes the leaders go at a fair clip – and thinks they will – in the $250,000 Kentucky Downs Preview Mint Millions on Saturday. At one mile, this race falls short of Win for the Money’s best distance. “It could be a touch short for him, but the pace will be much quicker, and that helps,” said Casse, who gives the mount to Cristian Torres. Win for the Money’s victory in the Mr. Steele, which yielded a 102 Beyer, is the best single performance put forth this year by any of the nine entrants in the Mint Millions Preview. One might not be entirely certain, however, where all the pace Casse envisions comes from. Perhaps Casse’s second entrant, Miranda Rights, can stoke the tempo, but Tut’s Revenge has set slow splits when he recently led, and there might be only one true front-runner at this mile trip. That’s Double Clutch, who, in his 12th try, finally cleared the first-level allowance ranks June 30. Double Clutch has an inside draw and has turned in two effective races this year after being allowed to roll to the front. Big Dreaming and, even more so, Lincoln Highway, rate serious consideration in a race Win for the Money does not at all have to win. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.