Indiana Derby principals Fulsome, O Besos work

Fulsome and O Besos both had their final pre-race works toward the Indiana Derby in separate early morning breezes this week at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.

Fulsome went five furlongs in 1:00.80 on Wednesday, some 24 hours after O Besos went in 1:00.40 on Tuesday. They figure as the favorites when rematched next Wednesday in the 27th running of the Grade 3, $300,000 Indiana Derby at Indiana Grand in suburban Indianapolis.

In their only prior meeting, the May 29 Matt Winn at Churchill, Fulsome emerged a 3 1/4-length winner, even after something of a sluggish start. The victory was the fourth in the last five starts for Fulsome, a Juddmonte Farms homebred who is being kept separate for the time being from the other 3-year-old stars in the Brad Cox stable, Essential Quality and Maladoun. Florent Geroux has the mount back in the 1 1/16-mile Indiana Derby.

A runner-up finish in the Matt Winn has been the only appearance by O Besos since the Orb colt was a creditable fifth in the Kentucky Derby under Marcelino Pedroza, an Indiana Grand regular who was aboard for the Tuesday breeze and has the mount back for the Indiana Derby.

“The horse that beat us in the Matt Winn is going to be over there, so we’ve got to turn the tables on him,” trainer Greg Foley told Indiana Grand publicity. “I thought our horse was a little keen that day, a little wired up for some reason. We’ve been working on that, to get him to relax a little more.”

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Foley ended June on quite a tear. He won four races during the final three-day span of the Churchill spring meet, including the Kelly’s Landing with Bango and an allowance with his 2020 Kentucky Derby runner, Major Fed. Foley then sent Yes It’s Ginger to Lone Star Park to win the Chicken Fried Stakes on Sunday.

The Indiana Derby is one of six stakes on the biggest day of a seven-month Indiana Grand meet that runs through Nov. 8.

Regular fare at Ellis

Back-to-back allowances will serve as co-features Friday at Ellis Park, the western Kentucky track that got its 31-day summer meet under way Sunday.

Race 6 is a $53,000, second-level turf route for fillies and mares, while Race 7 is a $52,000, first-level main-track sprint for 3-year-olds and upward. The eight-race card starts at 12:50 p.m. Central.

The first of 16 stakes at the meet is Sunday, when a four-day week ends with the $75,000 Ellis Park Turf for fillies and mares going 1 1/16 miles on the turf and the Dade Park Dash, a 5 1/2-furlong turf race for 3-year-olds. After this week, a Friday-to-Sunday schedule becomes the norm.

Unlike the majority of tracks that showcase their top races on Saturdays, Ellis is once again carding most of its stakes on Sundays, most notably Aug. 15, when the Ellis Park Derby and Groupie Doll will anchor the biggest day of the meet. In fact, the first Saturday of the meet is comprised entirely of maiden and/or claiming races.

Saratoga next for ‘Temper’

Colonelsdarktemper will make his next start at Saratoga, where trainer Joe Sharp will have a string. Sharp said he intends to run the resurgent 7-year-old in an allowance with hybrid conditions, including a $100,000 optional-claiming tag for which the horse would have to be entered.

“I’m guessing he’ll probably get claimed, too,” Sharp said.

Colonelsdarktemper and Set Piece were the only three-time winners at the 38-day Churchill spring meet, with both going 3 for 3. Colonelsdarktemper has earned $913,701, the vast majority of it for trainer William “Jinks” Fires, who is in semi-retirement in Arkansas. As a 3-year-old of 2017, Colonelsdarktemper ran second to Irap in the Indiana Derby before posting easily his richest victory in the West Virginia Derby.