Lady Eli returns from serious illness, long layoff in Ballston Spa

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – When the Travers is over, the best story on Saturday’s 13-race card may be just beginning.

Lady Eli, undefeated in six career starts, makes her first start in more than 13 months in the Grade 2, $400,000 Ballston Spa Stakes, the race immediately following the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers.

Lady Eli has not run since winning the Grade 1 Belmont Oaks on July 4, 2015. She stepped on a nail while walking back to her barn following the race and developed laminitis in both front feet. She has overcome that and a bout with tendonitis earlier this year to make it back to the races.

Lady Eli, a daughter of Divine Park trained by Chad Brown for Sheep Pond Partners, won her debut here in 2014 at the Ballston Spa distance of 1 1/16 miles. She subsequently won five stakes, including the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at 2 and the Belmont Oaks at 3.

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Though Lady Eli has been working sensationally for the last month, this is no easy spot. She will take on graded stakes winners Miss Temple City, Sentiero Italia, and Strike Charmer as well as the promising Onus.

“It’s a very tall order to go into a race like the Ballston Spa on Travers Day, against some fillies that are already in form and have had racing under their belt, off more than a 13-month layoff and overcoming laminitis,” Brown said. “I’m asking her to do a lot, but she’s talking to me. She’s telling me she wants to run.”

Miss Temple City beat males in the Grade 1 Maker’s 46 Mile and made a trip to Royal Ascot, where she finished fourth in the Duke of Cambridge Stakes.

Back in the U.S., Miss Temple City finished fourth, beaten just a neck, in the Grade 1 Diana here last month after having to wait for running room while behind horses at the top of the lane.

“Just enough to make a difference,” trainer Graham Motion said. “He had to wait for room at the top of the stretch. I think it cost him; you can’t get away with that up here. A jump after the wire, she’s in front.”

Motion said he has “extraordinary respect” for Lady Eli but added that if ever there was a time to take her on, it’s now.

“As a horseman, you know it’s a tough thing to come back from that injury and time off, but that doesn’t mean I don’t respect her,” Motion said.

Kiaran McLaughlin, the trainer of Sentiero Italia, said Lady Eli’s return “is great for our industry but not great for us or the seven people trying to beat her.”

“Our filly’s doing excellent,” McLaughlin added. “Obviously, we’re trying to beat her, see how it goes. We have a chance because it’s her first race back.”

Key Contenders

Lady Eli, by Divine Park
Last 3 Beyers: 100-91-97

◗ Makes her first start in 420 days following a life-threatening illness last summer.

◗ Won her debut here at 1 1/16 miles off workouts in 2014.

◗ Brown has done as much with her in the morning as possible, working her several times with Sea Calisi, who just won the Grade 1 Beverly D.

“She’s been breezing with Sea Calisi, who was impressive, and there’s nothing in between them when I work them,” Brown said. “She breezed against a horse that’s a good work horse in Mrs McDougal, who is a stakes horse in her own right. She’s beating these fillies to my eye in the morning. She’s talking to me like she wants to run.”

Miss Temple City, by Temple City
Last 3 Beyers: 101-108-97

◗ Came off a six-month layoff to beat males in the Maker’s 46 Mile at Keeneland.

◗ Lacked running room for several strides when beaten a neck in the Diana by Dacita.

◗ Finished second to Lady Eli in the Appalachian Stakes at Keeneland in April 2015.

Sentiero Italia, by Medaglia d’Oro
Last 3 Beyers: 95-96-93

◗ Since finishing fourth behind Lady Eli in the Belmont Oaks, she has won three of five starts, including a pair of graded stakes.

◗ Came off a layoff of nearly nine months to win an allowance race here on opening day.

◗ McLaughlin said Sentiero Italia was off for so long to have her ankles cleaned up and to recover from a hard eight-race campaign in 2015.

“We ran often and ran back in three weeks from the Queen Elizabeth to the Breeders’ Cup,” McLaughlin said. “She definitely needed some time. It was great to give her proper time. She’s filled out and looks great.”