Groupie Doll Stakes draws a dozen
Horseplayers accustomed to playing stakes races with short fields are in for a refreshing change Sunday at Ellis Park, which will offer a pair of 12-horse lineups in the Grade 3, $100,000 Groupie Doll and in the supporting $50,000 Cliff Guilliams Handicap.
The Groupie Doll, the track’s lone graded stakes, is run at a mile on the main track and while the 2017 renewal lacks a standout runner, it attracted a competitive bunch.
Ellis Park track handicapper Joe Kristufek installed Tiger Moth as a slight favorite at 7-2 odds over Danzatrice at 4-1 and Walkabout at 5-1.
A few others with fighting chances include the sharp Put Da Blame On Me at 8-1; the graded stakes-placed Adore at 12-1, and the field’s leading money earner Brooklynsway, at 8-1.
Put Da Blame On Me drew well in the Groupie Doll, landing in post 1, while Brooklynsway seems disadvantaged by drawing post 12. Mile races on the Ellis main track come out of a chute in which starters make a half turn before proceeding down the backstretch.
The two leading trainers at Ellis Park, Brad Cox and Steve Asmussen, are both represented by a pair of entrants apiece in the Groupie Doll. Cox runs Tiger Moth, winner of the $100,000 Marie Hulman George at Indiana Grand in her last start, and Pinch Hit, a 3-year-old who has won two consecutive allowances. Asmussen runs the speedy Adore as well as Danzatrice, a two-time stakes winner who scored a late-running victory in the $100,000 Iowa Distaff at Prairie Meadows on July 7.
The presence of numerous speed horses benefits the prospects of a closer such as Tiger Moth, who also has leading jockey Corey Lanerie aboard.
Post time for the Groupie Doll is 4:10 p.m. Central, a half-hour after the Cliff Guilliams, a 1 1/16-mile turf race that drew a high-caliber field for its modest $50,000 purse.
Among the horses entered in the Cliff Guilliams are last year’s winner Pleuven; $659,378 earner Chocolate Ride; Flatlined, winner of the Grade 2 Fort Lauderdale at Gulfstream over the winter; and 2016 Queen’s Plate winner Sir Dudley Digges.
GROUPIE DOLL KEY CONTENDERS
Tiger Moth, by Street Sense
Last 3 Beyers: 88-77-71
◗ She put it all together last out in winning the Marie Hulman George, but has been inconsistent in 2016-2017, with a record of 9-2-0-1.
Cox is optimistic she can reproduce her last-out effort. “She’s trained really well ever since the Indiana race,” he said.
Danzatrice, by Dunkirk
Last 3 Beyers: 83-NA-82
◗ She has beaten herself on multiple occasions this year, unseating her rider in one race and running off and being rank in a couple of other starts.
Brooklynsway, by Giant Gizmo
Last 3 Beyers: 80-51-94
◗ Likely needed her two starts this year to regain fitness after a 12-month break following ankle surgery. “You just get a lot of cobwebs in a year,” trainer Bernie Flint said.