Kitten’s Dumplings seeks to regain good form in Ellis Turf

A Grade 1 winner competing in an ungraded stakes at Ellis Park typically would equate to a mismatch, but then you notice that Kitten’s Dumplings has been a little spotty since she won the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup nearly 21 months ago.

Three off-the-board finishes from as many starts is the entire race record for Kitten’s Dumplings since she won the QE II at Keeneland in October 2013, so trainer Mike Maker is looking for some major class relief to get the 5-year-old mare back on the proverbial beam. To that end, Maker will ship Kitten’s Dumplings westward from his Trackside training center base to run Saturday as the favorite in the $50,000 Ellis Park Turf, a 1 1/16-mile race that drew an oversubscribed lineup of fillies and mares.

Maker said this week that Kitten’s Dumplings got a well-deserved break following the 2013 Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita, then “had a little ankle injury that took a while to heal,” explaining a break of more than 14 months in her race schedule.

Other logical contenders in the Ellis Turf, the eighth of nine races on the Independence Day card, include Kitty Wine, She’s Not Here, and Haunted Heroine.

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The Ellis Turf is the first of just four stakes at a 31-day meet that began Friday at this western Kentucky track. First post is 12:50 p.m. Central, with the feature set for 4:10.

Ellis Park Turf, Race 8

KEY CONTENDERS

Kitten’s Dumplings (Last 3 Beyers: 81-73-91)

◗ Obviously, she should prove superior if she regains peak form, but therein lies the major crux of this race. This stretch-running type does draw favorably in post 1 while having the ever-underrated Joe Rocco Jr. named to ride.

◗ Her latest start came nearly four months ago, but she has had 11 recorded workouts at Trackside since then (with no major breaks) as Maker has tried to find the right kind of spot for her.

Kitty Wine (Last 3 Beyers: 89-81-92)

◗ She, too, is in something of a victory drought, having gone five starts since winning a second-level turf allowance at Keeneland last fall for Eddie Kenneally, but she also brings a touch of class to these proceedings; she’s also well drawn in post 2 with Miguel Mena named.

She’s Not Here (Last 3 Beyers: 89-74-73)

◗ She was one of a trio of good-looking female winners at the recent Churchill Downs meet for Vicki Oliver (with Frivolous and Honey Lake), and clearly a repeat of that latest effort would put her in the thick of this, assuming Chris Landeros can work out the right kind of trip from post 11.